In English, an apostrophe has two basic uses. The first is to show possession; the second is to show omission. Many people seem not to know where to correctly use them; some place an apostrophe is incorrectly in a word, some use an apostrophe where a word is not in need of it and some fail to use them at all.
It may all seem fairly insignificant, but consider the following four phrases, all demonstrating possesive use of an apostrophe, each of which has an entirely different meaning based on the locations of the apostrophes:
1. my brother's friend's house (one brother, one friend)
2. my brothers' friends' house (2 or more brothers, 2 or more friends)
3. my brother's friends' house (one brother, 2 or more friends)
4. my brothers' friend's house (2 or more brothers, one friend)
The second use of an apostrophe, which denotes omission, is also often misused. It must always be placed at the exact point where the omission has occured. Thus, 'have not' = 'haven't' and not 'have'nt'
2007-01-24
08:52:35
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36 answers
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Anonymous