Glossary: apostrophe

Explanation

The apostrophe, written ', is one of the 9 main punctuation marks in English.

Apostrophes have two completely different uses:

  • showing the place of missing letters (e.g. I'm for I am)
  • marking possessives (e.g. Hannah's mother)
  • I'm going out and I won't be long. [showing missing letters]
  • Hannah's mother went to town in Justin's car. [marking possessives]
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