An unnecessary apostrophe?

A reader wrote me today wondering about an apostrophe in a Local and State section headline: Your opinion’s wanted.

I can see why the reader thought it was wrong. It could be read as Your opinions wanted with extraneous punctuation.

But it wasn’t a mistake. Here, the headline writer used opinion’s as a contraction of opinion is.

As always, though, I do like hearing your opinion.

2 Comments

  1. klonghofer
    Posted August 13, 2008 at 10:02 am | Permalink

    I think the use of the apostrophe’s not incorrect… but I think it also makes the sentence read more akwardly.

    kdl

  2. chimelak
    Posted August 16, 2008 at 10:35 pm | Permalink

    I have to say, as a language arts teacher, while your use of the apostrophe is techincally correct, its usage makes it hard to teach the proper use of them. I strive to get my students to understand that contractions are really meant for the spoken, not written word. It certainly makes it easier to teach the difference between it’s, its, and so on