What do apostrophes have to do with this federal holiday? Well, there’s a confusing apostrophe in Veterans’ Day—or is there? Veterans Day is often incorrectly written as “Veteran’s Day” or “Veterans’ Day.” But, in fact, it’s apostrophe free.
“Veteran’s Day” would definitely be incorrect because it means a day for only one veteran. While “Veterans’ Day” does encompass multiple veterans, that spelling is incorrect according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. In the name of the holiday, the word veterans acts as an attributive noun, which means that it behaves like an adjective even though it is a noun.
We use attributive nouns all the time without realizing it. For example, if you said “Last week, I went to the Cowboys game,” it is not grammatically imperative to include an apostrophe at the end of Cowboys, because Cowboys acts as an attributive noun.
Apostrophes that pop up
Apostrophes pop up where you least expect them, and their misuse distorts meaning and clarity. They are tricky little punctuation marks with multiple uses. Unlike commas and periods, they can actually take the place of letters (when used in contractions), and they also reveal the relationships between different parts of a clause when they make a noun possessive.
Contractions—like they’ve, what’s, and she’ll—are almost as old as the English language. They reflect how we combine syllables in natural speech, and they are observed in written language as far back as Old English. In Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, thou art is spelled thart. Shakespeare also used them frequently in order to adhere to the meter of his plays.
The antiquated word ’tis is a contraction of it and is; the first sound is removed instead of the middle syllable as is common today in the contraction it’s.
WATCH: ‘Tis the Season To Learn More About ‘Tis
Veterans isn’t the only possessive without an apostrophe
How about that other confusing apostrophe question—what’s with it’s and its? This is one of the most common grammatical errors seen throughout the English-speaking world. One means it is or it has and the other “belonging to it,” but which is which?
In modern English, we use ‘s to signify possession because of the Old English grammar that added an s to display the genitive case, or the “of relationship.”
Instead of saying, “That is the house of Jack,” with ‘s you only have to say, “That is Jack’s house.” You might assume, then, that it’s means “belonging to it.”
However, its doesn’t follow that rule because it is not a possessive like “Jack’s house,” but rather a possessive pronoun (like hers, theirs, and ours) that does not require an apostrophe. So, if you want to say “the pages of that book,” you say “its pages.”
And as we’ve discussed, its brother it’s is a contraction that combines it with is or has as in “It’s been a long day’s night.”
Remembering veterans
So, how do you remember veterans the right way? Just avoid the apostrophe … at least when you’re talking about their holiday!
