need help with spelling, is it lot's or lots

reeree

when writing lots of love etc do you write lots or lot's, l need to know for my grandsons essay weve looked online but can't find anything, thanks for any help in advance

The_Black_Sheep

Lots.

Apostrophes are generally used to describe something belonging to a person, for example "Steve's car".

cte1111

Lots

You only used the apostrophe when it belongs to someone or there are letters missing.

Homeagain

Definitely 'lots', no apostrophe. Hope he does well with the essay!

Fire_Fox

Lots. The apostrophe means belongs to as in "Lulu is Fire Fox's cat". Or is can denote a missed letter as in "It's a really wet day today/ it is a really wet day today". Lots is a plural, multiples of something so no apostrophe needed.

No doubt I've made a different grammatical error in this post that someone will correct.

Idiophreak

This seems quite thorough:
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/apostro.asp

reeree

Thanks guys l knew l could rely on you

KiKi

Apostrophes (see my signature) have two purposes:

1) A missing letter
2) Possession


1) The apostrophe denotes a missing letter when you put two words together, or miss one out.
I'm = I am
It's = It is
Don't = Do not


2) Possession, something belonging to.

For singular possession (eg, the dog), the apostrophe comes before the s. Eg, The dog's ball.
For plural possession, (eg, a group of dogs), the apostrophe comes after the s. Eg, The dogs' ball.

So the position of the apostrophe tells you whether it's (it is) a plural or singular that you're (you are) talking about.


It's (it is) similar with names. To denote Mary owning something it would be "Mary's house". But James already ends in an s, so the apostrophe comes after the s ie, "James' house".

(The exceptions in 'possession' are "his", "hers", "yours", "theirs" and "its". They never, ever have apostrophes.)



Apostrophes are never, ever, ever, ever, EVER used for plurals (unless talking about a possession).
CD's should be CDs
1990's should be 1990s
Sofa's should be sofas

Apostrophes are never, ever, ever used in any other place where an s is found; an apostrophe does not mean "here comes an s".

KiKi

margaretclare

It's often called the greengrocer's apostrophe as in: banana's, potatoe's and so on. Wrong!

fluffnutter

KiKi wrote: »

It's (it is) similar with names. To denote Mary owning something it would be "Mary's house". But James already ends in an s, so the apostrophe comes after the s ie, "James' house".

I think this isn't so clear-cut. I'd probably write "James's house" simply because you tend to voice the second 's' (i.e. you say 'Jameses'). I wouldn't add an extra 's' for words that already end in 's' but aren't voiced, e.g. "Louis' house" (and I'm using the French Louis, not Lewis. If I pronounced 'Louis' as 'Lewis' I would include an extra 's', e.g. "Louis's" because you say the 's' twice, i.e. 'Lewises').

I've not explained that very well....

reeree

KiKi wrote: »

Apostrophes (see my signature) have two purposes:

1) A missing letter
2) Possession


1) The apostrophe denotes a missing letter when you put two words together, or miss one out.
I'm = I am
It's = It is
Don't = Do not


2) Possession, something belonging to.

For singular possession (eg, the dog), the apostrophe comes before the s. Eg, The dog's ball.
For plural possession, eg a group of dogs, the apostrophe comes after the s. Eg, The dogs' ball.

So the position of the apostrophe tells you whether it's (it is) a plural or singular that you're (you are) talking about.


It's (it is) similar with names. To denote Mary owning something it would be "Mary's house". But James already ends in an s, so the apostrophe comes after the s ie, "James' house".

(The exceptions in 'possession' are "his", "hers", "yours", "theirs" and "its". They never, ever have apostrophes.)



Apostrophes are never, ever, ever, ever, EVER used for plurals (unless talking about a possession). Ie, CD's should be CDs. 1990's should be 1990s. Sofa's should be sofas.

Apostrophes are never, ever, ever used in any other place where an s is found - ie, an apostrophe does not mean "here comes an s".

KiKi

thank you for that it was really helpful, l wonder if you could help with the words thank you, in what context would you use thankyou as apposed to thank you