Rabu, 4 Januari 2017

Cara menggunakan Apostrophe


What is an Apostrophe?

An apostrophe is a punctuation mark that looks like this:  ’ (sort of half of a quote)


The rules for apostrophes vary with the type of word. Learn where to put apostrophes so that your writing is clear and correct. In short, apostrophes are frequently used to indicate possession and in contractions, but generally not to pluralize.


1.Never use an apostrophe to indicate a plural.
If you have more than one apple, then write apples, not apple's.

2.Use apostrophes to indicate possession.

There are two basic methods that make use of an apostrophe in constructing the possessive. Most words use an apostrophe followed by an "s" at the end of the word, although many situations require simply an apostrophe.
o    Place an apostrophe before the "s" when you are indicating a singular possessive.
§  "Jacob's shoes are very cool." The shoes belong to Jacob (singular: one person).
§  "I found the dog's old bone buried in the backyard." The bone belongs to the dog (singular: a single dog).

o    Place an apostrophe after the "s" when you are dealing with a possessive plural case that has an "s" at the end (e.g., book to books, tree to trees). But if the word is plural without an "s" at the end, this rule does not apply; add an apostrophe and an "s" as if the word were singular.
§  "Look at all of the sailors' boats!" The boats belong to the sailors (plural: there is more than one sailor).
§  “The pupils’ books have been marked.” The books belong to the pupils. (Plural: there is more than one pupil.)
§  "The children's dresses were pink and frilly." The dresses belong to the children, but since the word children is already plural without having to add an "s" at the end, this is an exception.
§  “The men’s coats were well designed.” The coats belong to the men, but since the word men is already plural without having to add an “s” at the end, this is an exception.

3.Use apostrophes in contractions.

 Sometimes, especially in informal writing, apostrophes are used to indicate one or more missing letters. For example, the word "don't" is short for "do not"; other examples include "isn't," "wouldn't," and "can't."
(Will provide you with more examples later on. )
Contractions can also be made with the verbs "is," "has," and "have." For example, we can write
 "She's going to school" instead of "She is going to school"; or
 "He's lost the game" instead of "He has lost the game."
A similar usage can be found in the notation of calendar years, as in '07.
In this case, the apostrophe appears in the spot where the missing numbers would have been (before the number, not after as in 07').

4. Be aware of the its/it's trap.

Use an apostrophe with the word "it" only when you want to indicate a contraction for "it is" or "it has." It is a pronoun, and pronouns have their own possessive form that does not use an apostrophe. For example, "That noise? It's just the dog eating its bone." 

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