Apostrophe
From Teflpedia
The apostrophe /əˈpɒstrəfiː/ is a punctuation mark, used extensively in English for contractions and to inflect nouns into the genitive case.
Usage[edit | edit source]
The apostrophe is used to indicate:
- Possession via possessive ’s, e.g. Susan’s book; today’s news; next week’s meeting;
- omission of letters:
- Contractions: It’s mine; they’re here.
- 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 and rock songs: cryin’ – drivin’ – dyin’ – livin’ – lyin’ – rockin’ – '’singin’ – '’sittin’ – talkin’ – walkin’ – etc.
Errors[edit | edit source]
A greengrocer’s apostrophe is the incorrect use of an apostrophe is as a plural, e.g. *potato’s and *tomato’s.
Orthography[edit | edit source]
There are actually different symbols used. These are the typesetter’s apostrophe, ’, and the typewriter’s apostrophe, '.
