Apostrophe--Today's "Gotcha" Grammar Glitch

Apostrophes are pesky. One rule is that an apostrophe shows possession, as in the phrase "Joel's church." This phrase means basically the same as "the church of Joel." However, it is incorrect to use BOTH the apostrophe and the "of" phrase together.

Mark I. Pinsky, religion writer for the Orlando Sentinel, unnecessarily bopped the possession point twice in this morning's USA Today when he wrote the "Monday focus--On Religion" segment. While describing the churches of Rick Warren and Joel Osteen, Pinsky wrote the following:

Followers of Warren and Osteen's tend to come from those a little higher up the demographic scale than most Pentecostals.

It is correct to write about "the followers of Warren and Osteen" or about "Warren's and Osteen's followers," but it is not correct to use both "of" and the apostrophe together.

While we are considering this, let me point out one more issue here. It is correct to say, "Warren's and Osteen's followers" (putting an apostrophe on each man's name) because we are talking about two separate congregations.

If we wrote "Warren and Osteen's followers," the phrase would suggest that Rick Warren and Joel Osteen had merged their congregations and were now working together.

Don't you love figuring out apostrophes?