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Explain and give examples of three uses of the apostrophe in written discourse.

The apostrophe is a commonly used punctuation mark and has many uses, three of which
I will be describing below.
The first use is to mark a contraction, this is when we reduce the number of letters used in
a word. The apostrophe replaces the missing letter (sound). This is usually done for ease
of pronunciation when bringing the two words together. A common example of a
contraction is the contraction of auxiliary verbs and when forming the negative with
not.
Examples of auxiliary contractions are: I am: Im, he is: hes, we are; were, shouldve.
Examples of negative contractions are: Is not; isnt, are not; arent, were not; werent,
will not is an exception to this rule and is spelt wont.
Anther commonly heard, but grammatically incorrect, contraction is aint, this is used to
contract; is not, am not, have not and are not.
A second use of the apostrophe is to show possession of nouns. There is a simple rule
which is applied; simply add an apostrophe and ans
Examples of possessive apostrophe: Johns book, Janes pen,
With words that end with /s/ or /z/ sounds, possession can be shown either with s or s
Example: Mr. Jones car or Mr. Joness car. Both are correct but the latter is preferred.
If the noun is a plural, the apostrophe would be placed after the s.
Example: My sisters husbands suggesting that I have more than one sister and not my
sisters husbands, which could met with confusion and shock.
The third use of the apostrophe is used to refer to numbers in periods of time like
decades, money and time.
Examples: We often talk about the music of the 60s and the political changes of the 80s.
We tell someone that Dover is an hours drive from London and we put ten pounds
worth of petrol in the car.

Hussein Saygineren

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