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Apostrophes - All The Rules Made Really Simple by Raymond King
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Apostrophes - All The Rules Made Really Simple |
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Education
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You know apostrophes aren't decoration. You know they change the meaning of what you write. So you know the rules matter. That's why you found your way to this article-to learn the rules. It's actually best if you don't think in terms of rules at all, or of the rights and wrongs of apostrophes. A better way to think about it is in terms of precision of expression. The idea with apostrophes is just to make your written words match your spoken words-exactly-so your reader knows without a doubt what you're trying to say. By the way, it's also true that your reader will respect what you say more if he detects that you say it with precision. It's the verbal equivalent of standing up straight and tucking in your shirt. You'll look like somebody who can do the job, whatever the job is. Luckily, the whole apostrophe thing isn't really very complicated. It's only about 3 or 4 thoughts long. FIRST, you never use apostrophes to make a plural. 1 pizza becomes 2 pizzas. 1 airplane becomes 2 airplanes. 1 battery becomes 2 batteries. (Sometimes the word ending changes.) For plurals, there's never an apostrophe in sight, ever. SECOND, you always use an apostrophe to show ownership. 'John's car' refers to the car owned by John. 'The boy's hat' is the hat owned by a boy. 'The horse's tail' ... you get the idea. If you're talking about more than 1 owner, do it like this: 'The boys' hats. The horses' tails.' You move the apostrophe. But, if the owner-word changes itself to show that you're talking about more than 1 owner, you don't bother moving the apostrophe: 'The men's hats. The women's coats.' Another funny ownership exception: 'its' To refer to the car's antenna, you write 'its antenna'. Why don't you write 'it's antenna', which it should be, to show that the car owns the antenna? Because "it's" is already taken, for another purpose. See the next section, below. THIRD, you also use apostrophes in those words that used to be 2 words. This is not about ownership. It's about abbreviation. When 2 words link up, there's always a letter that drops out, replaced by an apostrophe. These new words are called 'contractions' (because contracting means getting smaller). You know them all. They're the ones like these: they're (not the same and "their" or "there"), that's, it's (not the same as "its", that weird exception that shows ownership without an apostrophe), what's, there's (not the same as "theirs", which also ought to have an ownership apostrophe, but doesn't), isn't, don't, won't (not the same as "wont", which is an actual word). And so on. These words are not new to you. Just remember their apostrophes. All other apostrophes are optional: B-52's or B-52s, the 1970's or the 1970s, Hallowe'en or Halloween, etc. custom essay term paper
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