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  • Writer's pictureThe English Coach

โ€œ๐—ก๐—ฒ๐˜„ ๐—ฌ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€โ€ ๐—ผ๐—ฟ โ€œ๐—ก๐—ฒ๐˜„ ๐—ฌ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟโ€™๐˜€โ€ - Apostrophe Yes or No?

๐˜๐˜ต'๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ ๐˜บ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ, ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด. ๐˜š๐˜ฐ, ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต'๐˜ด ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต ๐˜Œ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฉ ๐˜จ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ณ!

Itโ€™s almost December 31st, so a new year is around the corner. We want to extend good wishes to colleagues, friends, and family but which of these are correct?


๐’๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ฌ๐š๐ฒ โ€œ๐๐ž๐ฐ ๐˜๐ž๐š๐ซโ€, โ€œ๐๐ž๐ฐ ๐˜๐ž๐š๐ซโ€™๐ฌโ€ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐š๐ง ๐š๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ก๐ž, ๐จ๐ซ โ€œ๐๐ž๐ฐ ๐˜๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ฌโ€ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐š๐ง ๐š๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ก๐ž? Let's talk about that tricky apostrophe (or lack thereof) that confuses many learners.


As you know, ๐˜Œ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฉ ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ต๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ด: ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด. In the case of New Year'๐˜€, we're talking about possession. In fact, the phrase is a contraction of both New Year'๐˜€ Eve and New Year'๐˜€ Day. These two sentences mean "The Eve of the New Year' and 'The Day of the New Year'.

Thus, the '๐˜€ implies Eve or Day even when we don't say these words.

Example: New Year'๐˜€ Day

Example: New Year'๐˜€ Eve


The use of the possessive forms may be clearer in these two examples:

-New Year'๐˜€ resolutions (resolutions made on New Year's Eve/Day)

-New Year'๐˜€ party (a New Year's Eve/Day party)


We also use โ€œNew Yearโ€ in the ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ณ to bid someone a โ€œHappy New Yearโ€ over this specific period. In fact, the term โ€œNew Yearโ€ refers specifically to December 31st and January 1st. So, the two days mentioned earlier are the โ€œNew Yearโ€ although itโ€™s fine to say this for the first weeks of January as well.


Also note that English capitalizes ๐ƒ๐š๐ฒ and ๐„๐ฏ๐ž as they're the names of specific holidays like ๐‚hristmas, ๐„aster, or ๐‡alloween.

- correct: Happy New Year!

- incorrect Happy new year!

- correct: Iโ€™ll be visiting my family over the New Year.

- incorrect: Iโ€™ll be visiting my family over the new year.


โ€˜Happy New Years!โ€™ is also incorrect because this S implies that you'd like to extend good wishes for two or more years. Instead, the term refers to a specific period as we mentioned earlier, so you need to drop the S.


If you're speaking in ๐ ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ซ๐š๐ฅ about a new year (as opposed to the old year โ€“ the one that has finished), ๐๐จ๐ง'๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐š๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ž๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ. Use lowercase letters when you're speaking in general and no longer about the specific holiday.


The following sentences are examples.

- Iโ€™ll visit my family more in the new year.

- I'm going to use better grammar in the new year.


So, ๐‡๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฒ ๐๐ž๐ฐ ๐˜๐ž๐š๐ซ!

The English Coach

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