’Tis Time to Look at Punctuation
By Annette Rey
While using Facebook I became aware of many people attempting to write English when it is not their primary language. Constructing sentences is difficult for them. I have great admiration for these budding authors. They are my inspiration for writing this basic instruction for those who need this kind of help.
To indicate a letter or letters are missing – when you shorten two words, an apostrophe is needed. A few examples are below:
Do not = don’t
Is not = isn’t
Should not = shouldn’t
I am = I’m
It is = it’s
It is = ’tis
Until = ’til
To show possession, an apostrophe is needed, followed by an s, at the end of the noun. Sentence examples are below:
The dog’s sweater fit him nicely.
Manfred’s girlfriend works at the factory.
To show possession in the case of a word that already ends in s, add an apostrophe after the last s, as in:
We took a carriage ride on St. Louis’ riverfront.
Arkansas’ state laws are front page news this week.
Julie likes Phyllis’ hairstyle.