use of apostrophes in writing coursework

Can they ever make something plural? This rule is not applied rigorously though, and in some cases (especially abbreviations) it may be preferable to omit the apostrophe: In fact, in the plural form of decades it is now customary to leave out the apostrophe: Gutenberg invented his printing press in the late 1430s. If in doubt, you could use an “of” construction instead: the parables of Jesus, etc.

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It is, of course, never appropriate to use such colloquial forms in formal writing, except when you are explicitly writing about colloquial English. Group ownership, or “joint possession,” occurs when something belongs to multiple nouns. it's=it is … The apostrophe is added to the last word, even if the compound noun is a plural: the Governor General’s approval Singular words whether or not they end in s, are made possessive by adding an apostrophe + s. For plural words, we typically indicate possession simply by adding the apostrophe without an additional s. However, a plural that does not end in an s (e.g., bacteria), we would add an apostrophe + s. A contraction is a shortened phrase. Apostrophe Use: Contractions and Omissions. At other times, though, these important punctuation marks are completely absent. Some of the ones you might see are: Contractions are typically used in less formal writing to make your writing sound more conversational.

Unless your tutor explicitly prescribes the use of either, you are free to choose. (A) This research was carried out in the 1970's. Become a better writer. Many people make the mistake of underusing or overusing apostrophes in their writing. Apostrophes can be tricky. One common error is adding an apostrophe when forming plurals. The most important of these to remember is ‘its’, as many people wrongly add an apostrophe before the ‘s’: Tim was frustrated with the barber shop: its opening hours were unpredictable. Copyright 2020 Applied Research Consulting Ltd, Email:                 help@15writers.com, ------------------------------------------, Apostrophe (’) looks like a comma hanging at the top of the line. the women’s washroom Finally, while we're discussing clothing departments, observe that there is at least one irritating exception: though we write men's clothing, as usual, we write menswear as a single word, with no apostrophe.

The most common instances for when to use an apostrophe are writing contractions or showing possession. MS Word will fix some obvious confusions, e. g. havent or doesnt, by automatically inserting an apostrophe.

The apostrophe is used to indicate possession (e.g., Tom’s plan, the cat’s whiskers) and to show the omission of letters where a word has been contracted (e.g., I can’t remember the ’80s for I cannot remember the 1980s). To show that a letter or letters are missing For example: I'm going to the zoo.

This can also makes your writing sound more formal.

© 2020 All Rights Reserved. The plural of ‘apple’, for example, is ‘apples’ (not ‘apple’s’). teacher’s college). However, by replacing “your” with “you are”, it becomes apparent that you should use a contraction with an apostrophe in the second example. To illustrate these two uses, let us examine some of the rules that dictate when apostrophes should be used and where they should be placed in a word. For example, the apostrophe in the Irish name O’Neill does not indicate omitted letters, because O is an anglicized version of the Gaelic ua, or descendant. 3.

There is a further point about writing possessives: when you add an apostrophe-s or an apostrophe alone to form a possessive, the thing that comes before the apostrophe must be a real English word, and it must also be the right English word.

the moose’s migration.

Apostrophes are used … Here are some examples of apostrophes in English and tips on how to use or … Essay UK offers students a complete range of free resources for undergraduate, post graduate, PhD and professional courses. There are four Steves and three Julies in my class. You may find yourself being steered away from using contractions in your papers. The employees of Tesco -> Tesco’s employees, The money of the fund -> the fund’s money, The daughter of the founder -> the founder’s daughter. or person to say that something (or someone) belongs to them.

Other examples of possession with singular subjects include: But what happens if the word doing the possessing already ends with the letter s? Contractions are typically used in less formal writing to make your writing sound more conversational. Your email address will not be published. Reread your sentence with the full words rather than the contraction: Since you can’t replace “its” with “it is”, you should use the possessive pronoun. (There is an English word spelled it's, of course, and indeed I've just used it in the preceding sentence, but this is not a possessive: it's the contracted form of it is or of it has. To show possession In the singular The apostrophe keeps readers from confusing them with two-letter words.

When to Use an Apostrophe: Years Similar to making contractions, an apostrophe should be used with years when omitting numbers.

In this example, the babies belong to both Mike and Mollie. Examples ü contractions (e.g. Other words can also be shortened using apostrophes: Apostrophes sometimes show missing numbers: she grew up in the ’90s (for the 1990s) Use apostrophes to show possession, where it comes before the 's' (Sally's), except when the person's name ends in 's', when it comes after the 's' (Dickens').

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