When was the apostrophe introduced?
The apostrophe probably originated in the early 16th Century – either in 1509, in an Italian edition of Petrarch, or in 1529, courtesy of French printer Geoffroy Tory, who seemingly had a fondness for creating linguistic marks, as he is also credited with inventing the accent and the cedilla.
Does 1950’s have an apostrophe?
Using apostrophes with dates: 1950s refers to the entire decade. 1950’s is a reference to some fact or occurrence that belongs to the decade (e.g. The Twist was a 1950’s dance). Though it may seem odd to have a number and letter next to each other without punctuation, the plural has no apostrophe.
Is there an apostrophe in 1900s?
1900s or 1900’s? Use an “s” without an apostrophe after the year to indicate spans of decades or centuries. 1900s is the period from 1900 to 1999. An apostrophe after the year is needed for possessives.
Is there an apostrophe after 1960s?
With dates, the rule is simple: no apostrophes. It’s “1960s” and so forth. The apostrophe is needed when it serves to avoid confusion: She earned all A’s and B’s.
Where did possessive s originate?
The ‘s’ at the end of a word indicating possession (“The king’s fashion sense”) probably comes from the Old English custom of adding ‘-es’ to singular genitive masculine nouns (in modern English, “The kinges fashion sense”). In this theory, the apostrophe stands in for the missing ‘e’.
Does s possession mean?
Explanation: An apostrophe and the letter ‘s’ are used to show possession.It is important to put the apostrophe in the correct place, either before the ‘s’ or after the ‘s’, depending on whether the subject is singular or plural.
Is it 1960s or 1960’s?
For instance, writing “the 1960’s” when referring to that entire decade is incorrect; instead, one should write “the 1960s.” The same rule applies to the plural form of any other type of number, such as describing someone’s age (e.g. “clients in their 80s”), and is discussed further in section 4.38 on page 114 of the …
Is it 1980s or 1980’s?
According to both AP and Chicago Style guidelines, always use the apostrophe before the 80s as it replaces the 19. So the correct way would be ’80s. You would not use an apostrophe after the 80 (as in 80’s) because the decade reference is a descriptive phrase, not a possessive.
Is it 1970s or 1970’s?
The apostrophe in ’70s is forming a contraction for the numbers you are replacing in the spelled out version “1970s.” Never put the apostrophe before the “s” when describing decades. For plurals of multiple letters, we can again scrap the apostrophe and just add “s.” Example: “He is learning his ABCs right now.”
Is SA clitoris possessive?
Since the phrasal possessive requires a clitic, it is most parsimonious to assume the clitic construction also for all regular possessives, i.e. (6) in preference to (7) or (8).
Why does possessive its have an apostrophe?
Its is the possessive form of “it.” In a nutshell: It’s is always a contraction, so if you can replace it’s with “it is” or “it has,” then keep that apostrophe on there. It’s appropriate!
Is it Ross’s or Ross?
The possessive form of almost all proper names is formed by adding apostrophe and s to a singular or apostrophe alone to a plural. By this style rule, you would express the plural of Ross as Ross’s.
When did we start using apostrophes for possession?
The Oxford Companion to the English Language notes that when Shakespeare’s First Folio was published, in 1623, a mere 4\% of the words in it for which we would today use an apostrophe to indicate possession had such punctuation.
What are the rules for apostrophes in English grammar?
Here are the rules that will apply: Rule one: If possessive noun is singular, then you need to add apostrophe plus “s”. Rule two: If possessive noun is not ending with the letter “s”, then you always need to add apostrophe plus “s”.
What causes the most apostrophe confusion?
The rules about forming possessives probably cause the most apostrophe confusion. They vary a little bit, depending on what type of noun you are making into a possessive. Here are the rules of thumb: For most singular nouns, add apostrophe+s:
Why is there an apostrophe in the genitive of a word?
Instead, it seems likely that the genitive apostrophe is an illustration of our language’s older, highly inflectional state. It’s like this: in Old English it was common to add an – es to singular genitive masculine and neuter nouns. For instance, the genitive form of the word for king, cyning, would be cyninges.