View the Photoshop Action Photostream Become a Fan of MCP Actions on Facebook Follow MCP Actions on Twitter Join MCP Actions on Linkedin Subscribe to the MCP Actions Tutorials via email

The Word is Photos NOT Photo’s

November 25th, 2009
Categorized Under: Business Tips, MCP Thoughts

I am the last person, according to my husband, who should be giving a punctuation lesson.  One of his biggest pet peeves is apostrophe errors.  It has started rubbing off on me.

As a result today’s quick tip is a lesson in apostrophes.

An apostrophe does not mean “warning – an ‘s’ is coming.”  It indicates possession or a contraction. Those are the only two reasons to use one.

If you have more than one of something it gets an “s” not an ‘s or s’. While this bothers my husband daily, the time it grinds on my nerves most is when photographers write the word photo’s (to mean more than one photo).  That is incorrect.  Please stop.  You do not need to stop for me. But stop for yourself.  It looks unprofessional.  I want you to gain respect from those who read your words, your blogs, your sites.  So make sure unless that photo possesses something that there is not an apostrophe anywhere nearby.

That said, remember my grammar is not perfect, actually not close to perfect.  And I get corrected all the time.  So do not take it personally.  Just fix it now that you know.

Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate.

Jodi

Share this post:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Add to favorites
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • LinkedIn
  • Google Bookmarks
Tags: , , ,

52 Comments

Leave a Reply








  1. 1. The Word is Photos NOT Photo’s Says:

    [...] 1 votes vote The Word is Photos NOT Photo’s I am the last person, according to my husband, who should be giving a punctuation lesson.  [...]

  2. 2. Alexandra Says:

    Great blog post. This is a huge pet peeve of mine haha :)

  3. 3. Lacey Reimann Says:

    THANK YOU!!! Like your husband, apostrophe errors eat at me, too. The biggest offender in my book? When people have some sign/boulder/whatever by their front door and it has their name on it: The Smith’s
    The Smith’s what? The Smith’s rock? The Smith’s sign??? PLEASE people, stop marking your territory! :- D Really does drive me nuts, so I’m glad to see you’re shedding some light on the subject!

  4. 4. Heidi Lawson Says:

    Oh yes!! That absolutely drives me bonkers. I wonder how I can tactfully direct a few people to read this blog post . . . .

  5. 5. Tiffany Says:

    GAH! That drives me bonkers too! And another…..lense for lens….GAH!

  6. 6. Linda Says:

    Except for it, it’s, its’….those are a bit more confusing when it comes to apostrophes (see, no apostrophe’s!). I’m still trying to decipher the rules on THAT…

    But yeah, there’s nothing like seeing a blog or website with the word photo’s…when it isn’t signifying some type of possession. Thanks for this. Hope many “offenders” read and fix!

  7. 7. Shelly LeBlanc Says:

    You are so funny!!! I am the Grammar Queen – misspellings and poor grammar drive me out of my mind. I usually only correct my husband though. Thank you for saying the words.
    Its vs. it’s is my pet peeve.

  8. 8. lori Says:

    not to start this as a pet peeve thread or anything, but it’s the rare person who uses the word comprise correctly!! something is not “comprised of.” it may be “composed of” other things, but it is not “comprised of” other things. a patchwork quilt comprises hundreds of pieces. a crowd comprises 250 people.

    that plus the ‘s, and also nucular. don’t get me started.

  9. 9. Christy Combs - Inspired by christy Says:

    love it!

  10. 10. Niecey Says:

    Haha, you just couldn’t hold it in a minute longer, huh?

    It miffs me off too.

  11. 11. Dionne Says:

    AMEN!

  12. 12. Dionne Says:

    And for those designing and selling Christmas cards, “Happy Holiday’s” is also horribly incorrect. :)

  13. 13. Tina Says:

    I hate this, too! http://www.apostrophe.me has a helpful graph for anyone who still doesn’t get that apostrophes aren’t plural indicators.

  14. 14. megan Says:

    thank you. thank you. i have seen apostrophe errors on posters and t-shirts from national chain stores and restaurants. Old Navy had a t-shirt last year that said “Local’s Only” — really? Old Navy doesn’t make enough money to employ a literate proofreader? (sorry, off soapbox :) .

  15. 15. Alexa Says:

    A HUGE pet peeve of mine too… It seems to be a common problem among photographers…. Also, words such as your and you’re. They mean different things! And its and it’s. Again, different meanings.

    Hopefully posts like this one can help us all to improve our writing.

  16. 16. Annika Plummer Says:

    Thank you! I don’t know why it is so hard for people to understand the contraction/possessive rule. Thank you for showing everyone!

  17. 17. Laura Says:

    Amen! It’s a very simple rule, yet so often messed up. Ugh.

  18. 18. Michelle Warner Martin Says:

    I wish there was a LOVE button. I see this all the time and it drives me insane.

  19. 19. Meg Manion Silliker Says:

    good one.

  20. 20. Lori Mills Gordon Says:

    lol!! love it!

  21. 21. Nicole Wandrie Says:

    And when customers what to put "The Smith's" on their greeting cards. The Smith's what? The Smith's dog? House? Tree? LOL I usually encourage them to say "The Smith Family." Gets around the whole sticky mess. :-D

  22. 22. Ebony Forte Johnson Says:

    I'm and English teacher so I can certainly appreciate this one! Thanks for sharing this tid bit with all of us.

  23. 23. Trude Ellingsen Says:

    I couldn’t agree more, this is one of my biggest pet peeves! What’s even worse is when companies use false possessives in their advertising or even logos. Inconceivable!

  24. 24. Stacey Eason Rainer Says:

    I am such a grammar geek and bad grammar drives me crazy on professional sites!

  25. 25. Melinda Wieser Tuttle Says:

    Photographers love to say sneek peak instead of sneak peek

  26. 26. Athena Plichta Says:

    thank you!!! this is a pet peeve of mine, too. yep, sneak PEAK is another one….

  27. 27. Heather Long Says:

    Ohhh this is a good one! I had a lady argue with me that she should put a comma before the word and in their names. I just gave up. Bob, Mary, Joey, and Timmy. *sigh* And dont even get me started on their there and they're!!!

  28. 28. Ann Says:

    Oh thank you, thank you, thank you….add “it’s” and “its” to the list, too!

  29. 29. lori (aka: marzi) Says:

    while we’re at it can we teach people that stationery (as in paper products) is with an “e”?
    stationAry means that you are standing still.
    huge pet peeve!

  30. 30. Melinda Tuttle Says:

    Jodi will you please have a black friday sale???? Your Bag of Tricks is what I really want but the other people are wanting my money…sales you know…they are trying to get me. Don’t let me do it. :)

  31. 31. Stacey Eason Rainer Says:

    I am forever typing sneek peak and then having to correct it. I know it's wrong as soon as I type it. But, I also do this stuff verbally, changing the first letter of two words around.

  32. 32. Rene Skrodzki Says:

    I honestly did not know that, I never finished HS, and my grammar is terrible. Thanks for sharing

  33. 33. Carin Says:

    Oh, spelling really gets to me. Top of my list is “congradulations” to the wedding couple.

  34. 34. Sarah Says:

    I couldn’t agree more! That annoys me too. :)

  35. 35. Liana Roxanne Clark Says:

    Jodi, that mistake is so abused these days. It's as if people do not know the difference between a possessive and a plural. Plurals do not need apostrophes!And Heather, wasn't your client correct in asking for an Oxford comma? I've known many who say that it is optional, but it certainly isn't wrong. (At least when I learned about them.)Sigh…

  36. 36. Shelley Says:

    Ok, I wasn’t going to add one, but then I moved on checking my list of blogs and saw another famous photographer use this error again, twice, in one post. There seems to be much confusion about when to use “I” or “me” in a sentence. It’s actually an easy one to get right if you just follow this simple rule. For example, Tim and me are going shopping. You wouldn’t say “Me is going shopping”, so that sentence is incorrect. Always try out the sentence without the other person in it. More often I see the mistake made at the end of sentences where people are using I instead of me.
    Here’s an example I grabbed off the internet
    -Incorrect: “He gave the concert tickets to Mike and I.”
    -Correct: “He gave the concert tickets to Mike and me.”
    -If you want to know how to tell, simply take “Mike and” out of the sentence. You would not say he gave the tickets to I.

    My grammar is not perfect either but, I agree, the more we try to keep ourselves in check the more professional we will look! Thanks for all the great info Jodi!

  37. 37. Life with Kaishon Says:

    How funny! I don’t think I have noticed people doing that before but it would definitely bother me too! : ) Happy Thanksgiving!

  38. 38. Diane Says:

    Happy Thanksgiving!
    Yes, that bugs the heck out of me too. Drives me nuts really. Thanks for telling a few people.

  39. 39. Michelle Says:

    I agree, but my biggest grammar pet peeve is ending a sentence in a preposition! It is “Where are you?” NOT “Where are you at?”. Thank you. I feel better now that I have said it. ;-)

  40. 40. Teresa Allred Knoop-Troullier Says:

    I used to teach honors English. These bother me, too!Liana, you're right. There should be a comma before the and. Printers of newspapers stopped using them because it saves them ink. Fancy that. :)

  41. 41. Karen Says:

    This is my BIGGEST pet peeve! Thanks for saying something :)

  42. 42. Liana Roxanne Clark Says:

    Teresa, thanks for the validation! I had to make sure the old brain wasn't completely losing it. :-) Saving ink by not printing a comma? Amazing!

  43. 43. My blog has ADD. Wait, what was I going to post? Says:

    [...] I’d post. I’m so glad she wrote it so I don’t have to. Hey photographers – the word is photos, not photo’s. Oh Jodi, I think I love [...]

  44. 44. Marcy Says:

    Thank you!

    I’m a punctuation and grammar nerd – but I make mistakes too. I also hate when people use “quite” for “quiet” or “to” for “too”.

    Thanks for helping us all!

  45. 45. Adam W Says:

    apostrophe … no apostrophe
    to or too
    there or their
    etc….

    some of the reasons why I got D’s … or Ds ??? in English all through school.

    English is too (to?) complicated!

    Grrrrrr.

  46. 46. Elaine Says:

    YEEESSS! Thank you for stating this!
    And for those struggling with it’s or its…
    it’s = it is or it has
    its = possessive
    And Amen to no Happy Holiday’s!

    Merry Christmas!

  47. 47. Dianne Says:

    Thank you, thank you, thank you! Apostrophe misuse drives me crazy!!! I absolutely love your line, “An apostrophe does not mean ‘warning – an ’s’ is coming.’” I may have to use it.

  48. 48. Tamara Kenyon Says:

    I cannot expres’s how much it bother’s me when people put apostrophe’s in the wrong place’s. :)

    BIGGEST PET PEEVE EVER! I also hate when people put there their and they’re in the wrong context as well.

  49. 49. Phill Says:

    Actually photo’s can be correct. Photo isn’t actually a true word, it is a shortened form of photograph, because of it’s popular use, photo has become mainstreamed into the English language. So yes, photos is correct when you consider photo a word. If you would like to use completely correct English, then one would use the word photograph and when saying photo, it would just be a shortened version. Then proper English grammar sets in and you would use an apostrophe to connect the last letter of the pluralized form of photograph, the s, to the shortened form of the main word, photo. Hence, photo’s which is the same thing as photographs. English professor here, it’s been disputed a lot because of the confusion of photo being a word or not.

  50. 50. Stuee Says:

    Adam W (No.45) has a point. Apostrophes can be used for plurals in some cases, especially for certain abbreviations or to clarify things for the reader…

    e.g. 1
    There are two i’s in skiing and three a’s in aardvark.

    e.g. 2
    He sent four SOS’s before anyone responded.

  51. 51. Dan Says:

    But is Photo’s not a contraction of photographs?

  52. 52. Dan Says:

    I tend to agree with Phil. Though I would probably use Photos but it wouldn’t drive me crazy because it is a contraction of the word photographs.

Welcome to the MCP Actions Photoshop Blog

  • Learn to enhance your images with time saving Photoshop tutorials. Join us for daily blog posts with the latest photography and photoshop tips, contests, photographer interviews, and blueprints teaching how to use photoshop actions.

shop for photoshop actionsTamron Lenses CouponFlorabella TexturesKaleidoscope TexturesTeach Photography ClassesClick In MomsanimotoEasy as Pie

Polls

Will you upgrade to Photoshop CS5?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...





Find Photoshop Actions

Use the code below to display the MCP banner above on your blog or website.


Use the code below to display a text link to MCP Actions on your blog or website.
Related Posts Widget for Blogs by LinkWithin