English spellings/Catalogs/Apostrophe: Difference between revisions

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==Final and medial==
==Final and medial==
Final apostrophes follow an '''s''' to form the genitive plural of nouns ('''Mánx cáts' tâils'''); otherwise, like initial and medial apostrophes, they signify a missing (because unpronounced in quoted speech) letter or letters, as in '''gôin'''' for '''gôing''' ('''n''' sound replacing '''ng''' sound). Where it replaces a '''t''' or '''d''', this final apostrophe may be pronounced as a [[glottal stop]]; otherwise final apostrophes are silent. Hence there is no point in listing examples; for more see the [[apostrophe|main article]].
Final apostrophes follow an '''s''' to form the genitive plural of nouns ('''Mánx cáts' tâils'''); otherwise, like initial and medial apostrophes, they signify a missing (because unpronounced in quoted speech) letter or letters, as in '''gôin'''' for '''gôing''' ('''n''' sound replacing '''ng''' sound). Hence there is no point in listing examples. Where it replaces a '''t''' or '''d''', this final apostrophe may be pronounced as a [[glottal stop]]; otherwise final apostrophes are silent.

Revision as of 18:13, 17 October 2009


A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Use in English
Alphabetical word list
Retroalphabetical list  
Common misspellings  

Initial

All apostrophes are shaped (in fonts where there are different shapes) like a 9, not a 6, including initial ones (see below): this contrasts with the use of inverted commas, where the opening one is shaped like a 6 (or there can be two: 66) and the closing one like a 9 (or 99): "sixty-sixes and ninety-nines".

Words that begin with an apostrophe, where it signifies a letter or letters unpronounced in quoted speech, are:

’em them = um hmmm *əm

’tís and ’tẁas - poetic use of initial apostrophe, replacing omitted initial í of ít ís and ít ẁas

Final and medial

Final apostrophes follow an s to form the genitive plural of nouns (Mánx cáts' tâils); otherwise, like initial and medial apostrophes, they signify a missing (because unpronounced in quoted speech) letter or letters, as in gôin' for gôing (n sound replacing ng sound). Hence there is no point in listing examples. Where it replaces a t or d, this final apostrophe may be pronounced as a glottal stop; otherwise final apostrophes are silent.