Apostrophes

“From years’ of experience in primaries”

Apostrophes, Hypercorrection, Possessives

I saw this today on a political blog.

Problem:
The possessive apostrophe after “years” does not belong there.

Explanation:
The phrase “years of experience” translates to “experience’s years” — just as “friends of Jim” and “Jim’s friends” are equivalent.

So, “years’ of experience” would translate to “experience’s years’” — leaving us wondering what the plural noun “years” is meant to possess with its trailing apostrophe.

It seems that the author fell prey to hypercorrection, using both the possessive preposition “of” AND the possessive apostrophe to indicate experience across the years.

Solution:
“From years of experience in primaries”

“friend of Jim’s”

Apostrophes, Hypercorrection, Possessives

I saw a phrase like this the other day.

Problem:
The possessive preposition “of” before a noun should not be used with a possessive apostrophe-‘s’ after the noun.

Explanation:
The phrase “friend of somebody” translates to “somebody’s friend”.

So, “friend of Jim’s” would translate to “Jim’s’s friend” — a meaningless concept.

It seems that the author fell prey to hypercorrection, using both the possessive preposition “of” AND the possessive apostrophe-‘s’ to indicate friendship with Jim.

Solutions:
“friend of Jim”
or
“Jim’s friend”

“ya’ll”

Apostrophes, Contractions, Pronouns

I saw this in an email message.

Problem:
The apostrophe is in the wrong position.

Explanation:
The complete sentence was “I hope to see ya’ll next year.”

A Texan wrote the email message, and I recognized what the writer intended to say.

But “ya’ll” — spelled Y-A-APOSTROPHE-L-L — is not the correct way to write the contraction for the way that Texans say “you all”, the informal plural of the pronoun “you” in some parts of the United States.

An apostrophe in a contraction indicates where letters have been removed.

No letters have been removed between the “a” and the first “l” in the word “all”.

So the apostrophe does not belong after the “a”.

Instead, the apostrophe belongs where the letters “o” and “u” have been removed from the word “you” in the forming of the contraction.

Solution:
“y’all”