Apostrophe

The apostrophe /əˈpɒs.trə.fiː/ is a punctuation mark, used extensively in English for contractions and to inflect nouns into the genitive case.

Orthography

In English, an apostrophe is used in various ways.

• Inflection of nouns into the genitive case with the possessive {’s} suffix, e.g. Susan’s book; today’s news; next week’s meeting. The kids’ toys.
• omission of letters:
  • Contractions: It’s mine. They’re here. She’ll be coming soon.
  • Normal omissions: o’clock (omitted “f"); ma’am (omitted “d"); goin’ (omitted “g,” which means /ɪn/ instead of /ɪŋ/).
  • Uncommon omissions: impo’tant is a spelling that emphasizes the lack of /r/ sound, i.e. /ɪmˈpɔːtənt/ rather than /ɪmˈpɔːrtənt/.
• omission of numbers: May ’68;
• It is sometimes used in plurals of abbreviations: CD’s (though most style guides recommend CDs);
• In certain expressions of time: in two weeks’ time;
• It is also quite common to hear words finishing in -ing (normal pronunciation /ɪŋ/) in which the final consonant is pronounced /n/. In spelling this is represented by substituting the final “g" by an apostrophe.

Examples include the upper class expression huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’, and the lyrics of pop songs: cryin’ – drivin’ – dyin’ – livin’ – lyin’ – rockin’ – singin’ – sittin’ – talkin’ – walkin’ – etc.

Errors

A greengrocer’s apostrophe is the incorrect use of an apostrophe is as a plural, e.g. *potato’s and *tomato’s.

Typesetting

There are actually different typesetting symbols used. These are the typesetter’s apostrophe, ’, and the typewriter’s apostrophe, '.