Module 9: cast_apostrophe

What You’ll Learn in This Module

When you write a Cast narration that says “Jason’s progress this quarter” or “Acme LLC’s health score,” you need the possessive apostrophe to be grammatically correct. But the name is dynamic — it comes from CRM data and might end in “s” or might not. The cast_apostrophe filter handles this automatically, applying the correct English possessive rule every time.

📖 https://school.cast.app/liquid/custom-cast-filters.html#cast_apostrophe

What Is `cast_apostrophe`?

The cast_apostrophe filter adds a possessive apostrophe to whatever text value you give it. It follows the standard English grammar rule:

If the name ends in “s” → add just an apostrophe: James'
If the name does not end in “s” → add apostrophe + s: Jason's

Analogy: Think of writing a mail merge letter that says “Dear [Name]’s family.” If the name is “Smith,” you want “Smith’s family.” If the name is “James,” you want “James’ family.” You can’t hard-code the apostrophe because you don’t know which name will be inserted. cast_apostrophe makes the decision for you.

Why it matters in Cast

Possessive names appear constantly in narrations: “[Company]’s renewal,” “[Contact]’s health score,” “[Contact]’s team.” Getting the grammar wrong (“James’s” is debatable; “Jasons’” is clearly wrong) looks unprofessional in both text and spoken audio. cast_apostrophe guarantees correctness for any name.

Basic Usage

{{ contact_first_name | cast_apostrophe }}

That’s it. The filter looks at the last character and applies the right rule.

Examples

Input	Output	Rule Applied
`"Jason"`	`Jason's`	Does not end in s → add ‘s
`"Liz"`	`Liz's`	Does not end in s → add ‘s
`"James"`	`James'`	Ends in s → add ‘ only
`"Charles"`	`Charles'`	Ends in s → add ‘ only
`"Julius"`	`Julius'`	Ends in s → add ‘ only
`"Acme LLC"`	`Acme LLC's`	Does not end in s → add ‘s
`"AT&T Services"`	`AT&T Services'`	Ends in s → add ‘ only

Real Cast Examples

First name possessive:

{{ contact_first_name | cast_apostrophe }} progress this quarter has been outstanding.

For "Jason" → Jason's progress this quarter has been outstanding. For "James" → James' progress this quarter has been outstanding.

Company name possessive (chained with cast_titlecase):

Welcome to {{ contact_account_name | cast_titlecase | cast_apostrophe }}
Executive Business Review.

For "ACME LLC" → Welcome to Acme LLC's Executive Business Review. For "AT&T SERVICES LLC" → Welcome to AT&T Services LLC's Executive Business Review.

Account tenure:

{{ contact_first_name | cast_apostrophe }} account has been active
for {{ CustomerSince }}.

For "Priya" with a tenure of 2 years → Priya's account has been active for 2 years and 3 months.

Chaining with Other Filters

The most common chain is cast_titlecase → cast_apostrophe, applied to company names:

{{ contact_account_name | default: "your company" | cast_titlecase | cast_apostrophe }}

The order matters: first normalize the casing, then add the possessive. If you reversed the order, cast_titlecase might alter the possessive suffix.

You can also chain with default for safety:

{{ contact_first_name | default: "Your" | cast_apostrophe }}

For "Jason" → Jason's For nil/empty → Your's — wait, that’s grammatically wrong! “Your” is already possessive. This is a case where you need to think about your fallback carefully.

💡 Better fallback pattern for possessives:

{%- assign name = contact_first_name | default: "" -%}
{% if name == "" %}
  Your progress this quarter has been outstanding.
{% else %}
  {{ name | cast_apostrophe }} progress this quarter has been outstanding.
{% endif %}

This avoids the awkward “Your’s” by using a separate sentence structure for the fallback.

Common Mistakes

❌ Hard-coding the apostrophe instead of using the filter:

{{ contact_first_name }}'s account is thriving.

This always produces 's, even for names ending in “s” — giving you James's instead of James'.

✅ Use cast_apostrophe:

{{ contact_first_name | cast_apostrophe }} account is thriving.

❌ Adding extra text after the filter:

{{ contact_first_name | cast_apostrophe }}'s account

This would produce Jason's's account — a double possessive.

✅ The filter already adds the possessive — just follow with a space:

{{ contact_first_name | cast_apostrophe }} account

❌ Using a possessive pronoun as the default:

{{ contact_first_name | default: "Your" | cast_apostrophe }}
→ "Your's"  (grammatically incorrect)

✅ Handle the fallback case separately:

{%- assign name = contact_first_name | default: "" | strip -%}
{% if name != "" %}
  {{ name | cast_apostrophe }} account health is strong.
{% else %}
  Your account health is strong.
{% endif %}

Try It Yourself

Exercise: Write a Cast narration snippet that says “[Company]’s growth this year has been [above/below] the industry average.” Use cast_titlecase and cast_apostrophe for the company name, and handle the case where the company name might be missing.

Assume you have variables: contact_account_name (might be nil) and growth_vs_avg (a snippet that returns "above" or "below" as a string).

Click to reveal the answer

```liquid {%- assign company = contact_account_name | default: "" | strip -%} {%- assign comparison = growth_vs_avg | default: "in line with" | strip -%} {% if company != "" %} {{ company | cast_titlecase | cast_apostrophe }} growth this year has been {{ comparison }} the industry average. {% else %} Your company's growth this year has been {{ comparison }} the industry average. {% endif %} ``` For `"ACME LLC"` with `growth_vs_avg` = `"above"`: `Acme LLC's growth this year has been above the industry average.` For nil company name: `Your company's growth this year has been in line with the industry average.` Key details: - `cast_titlecase` before `cast_apostrophe` — always normalize casing first - Separate handling for missing company name avoids "Your Company's" awkwardness - Snippet output is stripped before use

What’s Next

In Module 10, you’ll learn about cast_pronounce — the filter that controls how Cast’s audio narrator speaks acronyms, product names, version numbers, and tricky words.

📖 Official documentation:

Custom Cast Filters: https://school.cast.app/liquid/custom-cast-filters.html#cast_apostrophe