Apostrophe

This lesson is on the apostrophe

the apostrophe as shown here in brackets is not the same as an open quotation mark the apostrophe is used to show a contraction.

And it is used to show possession.

it’s and it’s within without an apostrophe needs to be explained the apostrophe is used to show a contraction as in Are you sure you’ve got holiday next week where you’ve is the contraction of you have several things to note here firstly there’s no space around it is in UV it’s just like one word even though you have is two words with space and secondly it’s not one apostrophe per letter that’s been removed it’s just one apostrophe to show the place where a letter or some letters have been removed.

Are you sure you’re on holiday next week where your is the contraction of you are Yes I’m on holiday next week I’m is a contraction of I am or you’ll have to work harder there you is a contraction of you will or sometime you shall no matter what the contraction is is always the apostrophe that is used to show the contraction and these are very common in English you’ll find them all over the place.

apostrophe is also used to show possession there are a few specific situations we need to look at the simple traditional way was to add apostrophe s to show possession unless the word ends in an S then we just had the apostrophe as in that is Paul’s comic that is Thomas comic so Paul apostrophe s and Thomas as ends and s just an apostrophe.

however the modern way reflects the way we speak and this only affects words ending in the letter s so the letter S after the apostrophe is spoken more like a letter z so we would write like the apostrophe s even though it ends with an S and say that is Thomas’s comic the buses passengers are happy there is a whole lesson in the noun section about possessive so please refer to that for more information but for this lesson it’s enough to know that the apostrophe is the punctuation mark that we use here and now we look at it’s and it’s with and without an apostrophe so if an apostrophe shows a contraction and possession how do we interpret it’s with an apostrophe could be both.

in order to avoid confusion there’s an exception to the rule it’s with an apostrophe means it is and it’s without an apostrophe refers to the possessive by definition so a couple of examples it’s a lovely day today with an apostrophe where it isn’t a contraction of it is what the dog is enjoying it’s bone where it then refers to the possessive and this is by definition there are no exceptions to this exception.