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a·pos·tro·phe
 apostrophe
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- pronunciation:
pa
str
fi
- features:
- Word Parts
| part of speech: |
noun |
| definition 1: |
An apostrophe is a little mark that you see in certain words like "can't" and "I'm." It goes between letters to show that something is missing there. A word like "can't" is a short way of writing and saying "cannot." Using the apostrophe shows that the meaning is the same as "cannot" but that letters are missing and the sound is different.
I wrote "dont" on my paper, and my teacher said I made a mistake. She said I needed an apostrophe. After that, I fixed it and I wrote "don't."
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| definition 2: |
An apostrophe (') is a mark we often use along with a letter "s" to show that something belongs to a person or to a thing. When we talk about our FRIEND'S bike, we are talking about the bike that belongs to our friend. When we talk about the CITY'S streets, we mean the streets that belong to the city.
When you're talking about the tail that belongs to your cat--your cat's tail--don't forget the apostrophe before the letter "s."
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| definition 3: |
An apostrophe (') is sometimes used to make plurals of letters or numbers. An example of this is "You forgot to cross your t's."
We use an apostrophe if we're talking about all the i's in the word Mississippi or all the 6's in the number 6,666. |
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