Don’t forget I’m talking about a novel here, not a web site. But, you are right, I’ll have to get a proper editor as I did with my last book. I was hoping to do it myself this time. And, if I do, I may well stay with single quotation marks cos it would be easier LOL
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As a first step, I’d find a way to chuck the words listed below into a single RegEx which replaces all the apostrophes, whether one or two per word, with an unused character in English. You would change back the apostrophes when done with everything.
You then only need to contend with the possessive nouns, finding a way to shield them aside with a replacement character. Herein lies the dilemma. In part of the world, that belonging to the Waltons is written as Waltons’s OR Waltons’. It may not be your problem, but it is for many others.
Here’s a ton of words to add to your RegEx - some may appear dubious, but they are based on words alive in English today:
he’d
how’d
I’d
it’d
she’d
that’d
they’d
we’d
what’d
when’d
where’d
who’d
why’d
you’d
he’ll
how’ll
I’ll
she’ll
it’ll
that’ll
they’ll
we’ll
what’ll
when’ll
where’ll
who’ll
why’ll
you’ll
he’ll’ve
how’ll’ve
I’ll’ve
she’ll’ve
it’ll’ve
that’ll’ve
they’ll’ve
we’ll’ve
what’ll’ve
when’ll’ve
where’ll’ve
who’ll’ve
why’ll’ve
you’ll’ve
I’m
ain’t
aren’t
can’t
couldn’t
didn’t
doesn’t
don’t
hadn’t
hasn’t
haven’t
isn’t
mightn’t
mustn’t
oughtn’t
shan’t
shouldn’t
wasn’t
weren’t
won’t
wouldn’t
needn’t’ve
shouldn’t’ve
how’re
they’re
we’re
what’re
where’re
when’re
why’re
who’re
you’re
you’re’ll
we’re’ll
they’re’ll
you’re’n’t
we’re’n’t
they’re’n’t
what’re’y
where’re’y
how’re’y
he’s
here’s
how’s
it’s
let’s
she’s
that’s
there’s
what’s
when’s
where’s
who’s
why’s
could’ve
I’ve
should’ve
they’ve
we’ve
would’ve
you’ve
might’ve
must’ve
shall’ve
may’ve
ought’ve
I’d’ve
you’d’ve
he’d’ve
she’d’ve
it’d’ve
we’d’ve
they’d’ve
what’d’ve
where’d’ve
how’d’ve
when’d’ve
why’d’ve
who’d’ve
'cause
'tis
'twas
'twere
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Dear Kecitec57, Thank you for going to so much trouble creating this list for me. I have saved it and a page teaching me how to use RegEx. I will certainly play with this on a portion of my text to see if I can manage it without screwing a 365 page document up altogether! But, it’s given me a way to go that I had no idea about.
I may still stick to single quotes throughout which, when they are straight, function without bother…time will tell.
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Those should not be used. Ever. Same for the others with multiple apostrophes.
I can’t see myself using those even as argot. LOL But, you never know so I added 'll’ve to the list. Thanks again.
It seems to me you would really benefit by regExing the problem straight out by targeting any pair of alphabetic characters with a single apostrophe between.
If some regEx mavin would step forward and give you the needed Search & Replace code, that would be a great boon.
(Needless to say, you should back up your project before making such a global change.)
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I think you are right. I was just about to write to a writer friend of mine to see if he had any thoughts on the matter…he’s a retired academic and may know a trick or two.
Yes, I’d like it if someone could help me with the Search and Reaplce code…but, as I said I found a website that seems to explain it. In the end, I may leave things as they are.
This will identify all words with apostrophe’s, surrounded by letters. It won’t work on things like 'cause, ‘tis, ‘twas, ‘twere, sittin’, rollin’, tumblin’ (last three for the Bluesologists out there), etc. It will ignore quotes.
Smart quotes words version:
([A-z]{1,})’([a-z]{1,})
Straight quotes words version:
([A-z]{1,})'([a-z]{1,})
RegEx needs to be active in your search.
Experiment on the Interactive Tutorial project available from the Help menu, name it Test1 or whatever.
If you destroy it, feel good about yourself, 'cause it loads again from the Help menu and comes back good as new.
I don’t have a working character replacement option. 
That looks to me like the PCRE RegEx. Macs use a different flavour of RegEx so the syntax is slightly different. To find the straight apostrophes, this should work:
(\w+)'(\p{Lower}+)
For replace:
\1’\2
Typographer’s single opening quote is Opt-] on a Mac; closing is Shift-Opt-]. Double quotes are Opt-[ and Shift-Opt-[.
I have tested that in Nisus Writer Pro—which is based on the same text engine as Scrivener—and on a text which only had a couple of instances of “I’d”. I’ll check in Scrivener in due course.
The problem of the apostrophe at the head of the word is much more difficult, and as @lindywarrell mentioned (Cockney?) dropped-h’s in her post, that is a real issue for her.
Mark
(Apologies to @lindywarrell for previous mistyping!
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All except “when’ll’ve”, “where’ll’ve”, and “why’ll’ve”—I can’t imagine where they could be used—all the rest are completely current in spoken (UK at least) English, as are “there’ll’ve”,“I’d’ve”, etc. including “there’d’ve”. So in writing dialogue, they could well be perfectly appropriate.
Mark
A bit of misunderstanding Mark. I quoted two variations of the find because the OP has some work with smart quotes and other work with straight quotes.
I tested the \1#\2 choosing a # as a replacement character to be used in the meantime, while the dialogue quotes are sorted out (to be reverted later to an apostrophe), but it replaced the entire apostrophised words with \1#\2.
Yes, I know. I merely gave the straight apostrophe to smart apostrophe find and replace, (a) as an example, and (b) on the presumption that where she has smart apostophes he wouldn’t want to replace them. But it’s quite straightforward, just type which one you want found in the Find code, and the replacement in the Replace code.
As for your problem, leaving aside the #, as you’re on Windows which uses PCRE, I think the ‘Capture-X’ code might be $1 and $2 rather than \1 and \2.
As I said, I haven’t yet tried it in Scrivener, but it and NWP both use the same text engine, so the same flavour of RegEx, and the same basic Find and Replace dialog, though Nisus have enhanced it much more.
Mark
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Perfect. The replacement string $1#$2 worked substituting all apostrophes with a #. Thanks.
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Great. Glad it’s working for you. I’m trying to think how one might deal with the word initial apostrophes!
Mark
OK, just tried it in Scrivener. The find string works as required, but for some reason Scrivener RegEx on the Mac also requires $1 and $2 rather than \1 and \2 in the Replace code.
As you can see from the discussion, this isn’t a trivial problem. And regex isn’t easy to master, not so much because of its syntax (which mystifies many) but because it’s hard to identify search patterns comprehensively. Just is.
My tools have been developed since the 1970s on real world texts to handle all of these issues efficiently. I think we’d call it Actual Intelligence these days.
Whatever you do, don’t try to roll your own.
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Why shouldn’t I “roll my own”? I like to know what I’m doing and how I get there.
I don’t eat preprepared food; I prefer to cook from fresh. Same principle!
I agree, but what a beautiful list!
Thanks for that advice which I will take. While I appreciate everyone’s contribution, I’m already having trouble keeping up. Sorry, guys, I"m 80, and the language of these things is beyond me. For example, I’ve yet to find something called RegEdit in Scrivener…
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Thanks. I ask people on this thread to remember, I use a Mac…just in case it’s important.