apostrophe
Pluralapostrophes
- 1A small mark like a raised comma, used in writing to show missing letters or to show who owns something.
Like a tiny floating comma that sits up near the tops of the letters.
You need an apostrophe in "don't" to show the missing letter.
She added an apostrophe to turn "dog" into "dog's bowl."
Note
- 2A moment in a speech or poem where the speaker suddenly talks to someone or something that is not really there.
Like turning away from your friends at a party to suddenly talk to a photo on the wall.
The poet's apostrophe to the moon gives the verse its sad, lonely tone.
In the middle of her grief, she broke into an apostrophe to her late father.
Note
- 3An arrangement in which the green grains inside a plant cell sit at right angles to its outer wall.
In this moss leaf, the cells show apostrophe, with the green grains standing at right angles to the outer wall.
The biology teacher pointed out the apostrophe in the leaf cells under the microscope.
Oppositeepistrophe
Note
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of apostrophe apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origins
From French and Latin words for the elision mark, going back to Ancient Greek apóstrophos, meaning 'turning away', from apó 'away from' and stréphō 'to turn'.
From Latin apostrophe, from Ancient Greek apostrophḗ, based on a verb meaning 'I turn away', from apó 'away from' and stréphō 'I turn'.