Grammar and punctuation

[SqueezyIsStartinAResolution]

I want to work on my grammar and punctuation, in particular, apostrophes.

Can anyone recommend a good book to help out?

Eats Shoots and Leaves surely.

Well, Eats, Shoots and Leaves perhaps.

Whadya wanna know about apostrophes?

Well, I am rubbish at apostrophes and can never remember where to put them...before the s, after the s or just an s with no apostrophe....so I tend to change my sentences so as not to use them

this is quite handy

The worst thing is putting them in plurals.

A pound of mushroom's, please. Nooooo! Mushrooms. Just mushrooms.

You'd put an apostrophe after the s if it's plural. The mushrooms are in the box. It is the mushrooms' box.

Or if there's just one mushroom with its own box, then it's the mushroom's box. "It's" because it is "it is" with a letter missing.

And yes, I could go on like this all day Best stick with the factsheet!

Ah, that is very helpful, thank you very much!

You never know, I might even dabble in a few apostrophes on my travels around MN because sure as hell, someone will pick me up if I get it wrong

plural e.g. more than one= +s NO APOSTROPHE!!!! boys, girls, dogs, mumsnetters.

singular with possession- the boy's mother (the mother belonging to one boy)

plural with possession- the boys' mother (the mother belonging to two or more boys)

Words which are plural (without adding s) like children would be: 's. e.g. the children's teacher.

it's- short for it is

its- pronoun for a thing with no gender e.g. the table's leg is broken= its leg is broken.

Actually it's the no gender pronoun that causes the most confusion with the kids teach

When you use the name of the non gender noun (table/ chair/ box/ television) you DO need an apostrophe (the chair's cushion/ the door's handle)) but with the non gender pronoun (its) you don't!

Actually I forgot one more use for an apostrophe- they are used to show a missing letter in contracted words such as don't (do not) can't (can not)etc.

Also be careful with there (over there)
their( their house ) and
they're (they are)

And where (where is it)
were (we were at home) and
we're (we are eating our dinner)

Here endeth the lesson!

I'll shut up now!

Thanks BBK