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apostrophe¹ Definition

apos·tro·phe (ə päs′trə fē)

noun

words addressed to a person or thing, whether absent or present, generally in an exclamatory digression in a speech or literary writing

Etymology: L < Gr apostrophē, a turning away from the audience to address one person < apostrephein < apo-, from + strephein, to turn: see strophe

apostrophe¹ Related Forms

ap′·os·troph′ic (ap′ə sträf′ik) adjective

apostrophe² Definition

apos·tro·phe (ə päs′trə fē)

noun

a mark (') used:

  1. to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word or phrase (Ex.: o' for of, it's for it is)
  2. to form the possessive case of English nouns and some pronouns (Ex.: Mary's dress, the girls' club, one's duty)
  3. to form some plurals, as of figures and letters (Ex.: five 6's, dot the i's)

Etymology: Fr < LL apostrophus < Gr apostrophos (prosōidia), averted (accent): see apostrophe

apostrophe² Related Forms

ap′·os·troph′ic (ap′ə sträf′ik) adjective

apostrophe Synonyms

apostrophe

n.

  1. A punctuation mark

    pause, contraction mark, sign of omission, plural mark, sign of possession.

  2. An appeal

    invocation, address, soliloquy, supplication; see appeal 1, speech 3.

apostrophe Usage Examples

Possessives

  • greengrocer: Sticklers for correct punctuation were rejoicing today after a government body declared war on the greengrocer's apostrophe.
  • grocer: And he ends with comments on the most popular problems - including what he calls ' the grocer's apostrophe ' .

Converse of object

  • misplace: There, and I don't think I misplaced a single apostrophe.
  • insert: The apostrophe If needed, insert the apostrophe into the following headlines and standfirsts, then check your answers within The Newspaper.
  • miss: Reporter WILLIAM HARRIS decided to find out THE woman who got steamed up over missing apostrophes has a new bugbear: bad manners.
  • put: If you put an apostrophe in, you change the meaning.
  • remove: When you select it, it removes every apostrophe in the story.
  • add: If you're going to add an aberrant apostrophe to a plural, add it to every plural.

Adjective modifier

  • possessive: Iain Connell, Uk I do not agree with dropping the possessive apostrophe.
  • single: There, and I don't think I misplaced a single apostrophe.
  • missing: Sentence level work KS3 Skills Apostrophe wars Add the missing apostrophes!
  • errant: Why Rover's return is making us blush Stephen Pritchard puts paid to the errant apostrophe.
  • redundant: Franci ' s 447 x 480 41K The redundant apostrophe is the only reason for this picture's presence.
  • unnecessary: So, top of the class for natural history, and bottom of the English class for that unnecessary apostrophe in the title!

Modifies a noun

  • character: In all other posi- tions, it denotes the single quote or apostrophe character.
  • webpage: About Apostrophes webpage Click here to go to the Apostrophes webpage.

Preposition: in

  • title: So, top of the class for natural history, and bottom of the English class for that unnecessary apostrophe in the title!
  • possessive: One of these was his rule about where to place the apostrophe in possessives, e.g. the boy's room.
  • plural: This should be well known, but the inclusion of the apostrophe in simple plurals seems to have increased in recent years.
  • word: The use of apostrophes in words which would have been present if a related English word had been used instead ( e.g.