โ๐ก๐ฒ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐โ ๐ผ๐ฟ โ๐ก๐ฒ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟโ๐โ - Apostrophe Yes or No?
- The English Coach
- Dec 28, 2021
- 2 min read
๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ, ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด. ๐๐ฐ, ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต'๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ!

Itโs 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?
๐๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฒ โ๐๐๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐ซโ, โ๐๐๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐ซโ๐ฌโ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ก๐, ๐จ๐ซ โ๐๐๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฌโ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ก๐? Let's talk about that tricky apostrophe (or lack thereof) that confuses many learners.
As you know, ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด: ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด. 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 โNew Yearโ in the ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ to bid someone a โHappy New Yearโ over this specific period. In fact, the term โNew Yearโ refers specifically to December 31st and January 1st. So, the two days mentioned earlier are the โNew Yearโ although itโs fine to say this for the first weeks of January as well.
Also note that English capitalizes ๐๐๐ฒ and ๐๐ฏ๐ as they're the names of specific holidays like ๐hristmas, ๐aster, or ๐alloween.
- correct: Happy New Year!
- incorrect Happy new year!
- correct: Iโll be visiting my family over the New Year.
- incorrect: Iโll be visiting my family over the new year.
โHappy 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 ๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ฅ about a new year (as opposed to the old year โ the one that has finished), ๐๐จ๐ง'๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฌ. Use lowercase letters when you're speaking in general and no longer about the specific holiday.
The following sentences are examples.
- Iโll visit my family more in the new year.
- I'm going to use better grammar in the new year.
So, ๐๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐ซ!
The English Coach
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