Writing Tips for a Happy New Year

In our last Writing Tip Wednesday of 2023, we aimed to clear up confusion about common holiday writing mistakes, mostly having to do with apostrophes and plurals. But there’s still one more hurdle to clear, and apostrophes also play a major part in this one. New Year’s: Two small words with a variety of usages—and opportunities for blunders.

First, let’s talk about capitalization. New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are official holidays, so they’re always capitalized. But when you’re talking about the new year in general, don’t capitalize either word.

And then the apostrophe. This is a very clear case: Always use it when you’re referring to the two holidays. It shows possession and means “the eve of the new year” or “the day of the new year.” There’s really never any need to use it without an apostrophe. That would mean you’re talking about multiple new years, which probably doesn’t come up much.

It’s also common to drop the “Eve” or “Day” and just say “New Year’s,” and it’s generally understood that you’re talking about New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. But it still should be capitalized and have an apostrophe.

However, when you say, “Happy New Year,” leave off the apostrophe and the S. But if you say you wished someone a happy New Year, you don’t capitalize the H. And don’t forget about “New Year’s resolutions,” which also needs that apostrophe—but no capital R.