Apostrophe

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Apostrophe () is a punctuation mark used in many writing systems primarily for a few distinct purposes: to mark the omission of one or more letters (as in the contraction of "do not" to "don't"), to indicate possession (as in "the dog's bone" or "the dogs' bone" for plural ownership), and in some languages, to denote various forms of vocalic or consonantal elisions. Its use and application vary significantly between English and other languages.

History

The apostrophe originated in the 16th century as a way to indicate omitted letters, a practice derived from the tradition of writing letters closer together in a form of cursive writing, and eventually marking the elision with a small mark. The use of the apostrophe to indicate possession came later, evolving from the practice in Old English of indicating genitive case with the suffix "-es" and was standardized in the 18th century.

Usage

Omission

In English, the apostrophe is used to form contractions, a combination of words in which one or more letters have been omitted. Examples include "can't" (cannot), "she's" (she is or she has), and "o'clock" (of the clock).

Possession

The apostrophe is used to indicate possession in nouns. For singular nouns, the apostrophe is followed by an "s" (e.g., "the cat's whiskers"). For plural nouns that already end in "s", the apostrophe is placed after the "s" (e.g., "the cars' engines"). For plural nouns not ending in "s", the apostrophe followed by an "s" is used (e.g., "the children's toys").

Plural Forms

In some cases, the apostrophe is used to form the plural of letters, numbers, and symbols (e.g., "Mind your p's and q's", "Find all the number 7’s"). However, this usage is sometimes considered controversial and can vary depending on the style guide.

Rules and Variations

The application of the apostrophe can vary between different forms of English (e.g., American English vs. British English) and is subject to specific rules and exceptions in style guides, such as those published by the Chicago Manual of Style or the Associated Press. Common areas of variation include the possession form of singular nouns ending in "s" and the use of apostrophes with compound nouns.

In Other Languages

The apostrophe is used in several other languages with different rules. For example, in French, it marks the elision of a vowel before another vowel (e.g., "l'homme" for "le homme"). In some languages, such as Turkish and Finnish, the apostrophe is used in the romanization of words to indicate a separation of letters that should not be merged into a single sound.

Controversies and Common Errors

The misuse of apostrophes is a common source of grammar errors, often referred to as "apostrophe abuse." Common mistakes include its use in pluralizing nouns where it is not needed and confusion between "its" (possessive form of "it") and "it's" (contraction of "it is" or "it has").

See Also

• Quotation mark
• Punctuation
• Grammar

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