English spellings/Catalogs/Apostrophe: Difference between revisions

From Citizendium
Jump to navigation Jump to search
imported>Ro Thorpe
imported>Ro Thorpe
No edit summary
Line 2: Line 2:
{{:English_spellings/Catalogs/Masterlist}}
{{:English_spellings/Catalogs/Masterlist}}


==Initial==
All '''[[apostrophe]]s''' 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".
All '''[[apostrophe]]s''' 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".


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



Revision as of 19:15, 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  

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".

Initial

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.