Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we’re saving the English language sixty seconds at a time! I’m Lauren Smyth, and yesterday was President’s Day in the U.S., which makes this a great time to talk about apostrophes.
The exact spelling of Presidents Day varies by state. Why? Well, some people think they’re celebrating George Washington’s birthday. In this case, “President” is singular, and the spelling is “President-apostrophe-s” to signify one president. Other people think they’re celebrating all the presidents. In this case, “Presidents” is plural, so the apostrophe is attached to the end after the s to signify that the day belongs to multiple presidents.
Some people don’t think this day belongs to the presidents at all. Instead, they use “presidents” as an adjective to describe the day. In this case, there’s no apostrophe.
Officially, all of these are wrong. The U.S. government officially calls the day: “Washington’s Birthday.”
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