apostrophes
Possessive punctuation marks
Apostrophes is the plural of apostrophe, which has two meanings.
The punctuation mark (') indicates possession (Sarah's book), contractions (don't), or omitted letters (rock 'n' roll).
In rhetoric, an apostrophe is a dramatic address to someone absent or something abstract: O Death, where is thy sting?
Food shop proprietor's
- greengrocer'sFresh produce retail store
- pluralMore than one
- errorFault in communication
- mistakeWrong action or decision
unnecessary · incorrect · overcorrection · hypercorrection · pedantry · grammar · correction · sign
Written clarity symbols
- glyphVisual form of character
- curlyHaving spiral locks
- straightNot curved or crooked
- smart quotesDirectional quotation marks
typeset · prime · typewriter · character · symbol · opening · closing · directional
Case expressing ownership
- owner'sOf one who has
- dog'sBelonging to a canine
- children'sBelonging to minors
- women'sOf or for females
boss's · someone's · everybody's · company's · today's · year's · mother's · father's
Contraction forbidding action
- can'tLacking the ability
- isn'tContraction negating existence
- won'tContraction showing refusal
- aren'tNegative of "are"
wasn't · weren't · hasn't · haven't · hadn't · wouldn't · couldn't · shouldn't
Dropped sounds in speech
- ne'erNot ever, contracted
- o'erPoetic contraction for above
- e'erAt all times
- fo'c'sleForward ship compartment
ma'am · rock'n'roll · will-o'-the-wisp · jack-o'-lantern · Hallowe'en · glottal · dialect · colloquial
grocer's
Food shop proprietor's
- greengrocer'sFresh produce retail store
- pluralMore than one
- errorFault in communication
mistake · unnecessary · incorrect · overcorrection · hypercorrection · pedantry · grammar · correction · sign · menu
punctuation
Written clarity symbols
smart quotes · typeset · prime · typewriter · character · symbol · opening · closing · directional · vertical
genitive
Case expressing ownership
- owner'sOf one who has
- dog'sBelonging to a canine
- children'sBelonging to minors
women's · boss's · someone's · everybody's · company's · today's · year's · mother's · father's · world's
don't
Contraction forbidding action
aren't · wasn't · weren't · hasn't · haven't · hadn't · wouldn't · couldn't · shouldn't · you're
elision
Dropped sounds in speech
fo'c'sle · ma'am · rock'n'roll · will-o'-the-wisp · jack-o'-lantern · Hallowe'en · glottal · dialect · colloquial · informal
- written symbolsletters, alphabets, punctuation, commas, periods
- writing rulespunctuation, capitalization, spelling, commas, periods
- language usageusage, spelling, punctuation, grammar, diction
- Style GuideAP style, MLA style, house style, editorial guidelines, formatting
- word featuresprefixes, suffixes, root words, syllable count, spelling patterns
- spellingspelling, spelling rules, spelling patterns, spelling errors, spelling conventions
- apostrophe sPossessive punctuation suffix
- apostrophe errorMisused floating comma
- grocer's apostrophe
- apostrophe usePunctuation for contractions, possession
- apostrophe misuseIncorrect placement of punctuation mark