Apostrophe Rules and Harbinger

Respite

A brief rest

What does -'s indicate when used with a personal pronoun?

A contraction.

Raconteur

A person who excels at telling stories

Epiphany

A sudden clarity or insight

Penchant

A tendency or strong desire

Symmetry

An arrangement of balanced or harmonious proportions

Harbinger

An omen or sign of future events

Revelation

Astonishing discovery

Sojourn

At temporary stay

How do expletives make sentences too complicated?

Because expletives shift emphasis away from the subject, they can result in the use of unnecessary words.

Jejune

Boring, uninteresting

Prosaic

Common, ordinary

They're

Correct! They + are = contraction! The apostrophe here means that the writer dropped the letter, so they are becomes they're, as in "They're all eager to eat cake!"

Correct or incorrect: A friend of theirs knows a cousin of yours.

Correct.

What is an elliptical construction?

a useful omission of words that will be understood by the reader without being repeated.

Expletive

a word that signals that the subject will follow the verb-- you can recognize expletives by finding "there" followed by a "to be" verb.

Plurals not ending in -s add what to make a possessive? (men, women)

add the apostrophe and -s. (Men's and Women's rooms)

Compounds and expressions that show joint ownership create possessives by what? (Biff and Stacy have a house) (her mother-in-law has a telephone)

adding the apostrophe and -s to the last word only (Biff and Stacy's house) (her mother-in-law's telephone)

Replace this wordy expression "in spite of the fact that"

although

What's the useless word in this phrase? basic essentials

basic

Pedestrian

common, uninteresting

List all personal pronouns

I, we, you, he, she, it, they

Mosaic

Image composed of many small, colored tiles or pieces

What apostrophe rule does this exemplify? The new store called Cake Bliss' sign is pretty.

When the 's results in the awkward reptition of s, x, or z sound, the -s is omitted.

What's the useless word in this phrase? true facts

true

Definition of redundancy

useless repetition

Enveloped

Enclosed completely

Conflagration

Extreme or uncontrolled fire

True or False: An 's is used to indicate plurals of words. Example: The Smith's are home.

False. Correctly written, it should be "The Smiths are home."

Morose

Gloomy or Depressed

Euphoria

Happiness

Simplify this expletive: It is easy to learn to ski.

Learning to ski is easy.

Agenda

List of things to do

How would one write that NASA has a shuttle using an apostrophe?

NASA's shuttle

Is this correct? Squirrels climbed up Betsy and Smitty's trees. (Betsy and Smitty have separate yards in this context).

No, it is incorrect.

Are contractions often used in academic writing

No. Contractions should be avoided in academic writing because the tone created by contractions implies a nonacademic attitude.

Mundane

Ordinary, commonplace

Simplify: Some phony unscrupulous brokers are takign money and savings from elderly old people who need that money because they planned to use it as retirement pensions.

Some unscrupulous brokers are cheating old people out of their pensions.

Replace this ridiculously long phrase with one word: "spoke in a low and hard-to-hear voice"

mumbled

List all personal pronoun possessive forms

my, mine, our, ours, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, their, theirs

Replace this wordy expression "at this point in time"

now

Plural nouns ending in -s add what to make possessives? (the boys, the babies)

only the apostrophe. (the boys' kites, the babies' sitter)

Which is preferred in academic writing? straightforward style or ornate style?

straightforward style

What's the useless word in this phrase? bitter-tasting salad

tasting

What is the apostrophe marking in this example? don't, they'll, class of '15

the omission of contractions and numbers

Incredulity

Disbelief

Correct or incorrect: This book is mine's.

Incorrect. A personal pronoun (I, we, you, he, she, it, they) has its own form to show possession (my, mine, our, ours, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, their, theirs).

Correct or incorrect: Whose responsible?

Incorrect. Correctly written here: Who's responsible? = Who is responsible?

Correct or incorrect: Who's responsiblity is it?

Incorrect. Correctly written here: Whose responsibility is it?

Correct or incorrect: their's

Incorrect. Sooooooooo incorrect. Yikes! Sheesh! Yowza!

Is this satirical writing or not? "You see, as much as we tend to think of language snobs as frothy mouthed meanies who spew bitterness day and night, in reality the meanies aren't cranky all the time. Sometimes they can be downright chipper. That's when they're really scary" (Casagrande 2).

It is satirical. In fact, this is Juvenalian satire. Why? Because of the biting tone that the author takes to grammar snobs.

What does "it's" indicate?

It is. It's is a contraction for it is.

What does "its" indicate?

Its is the possessive form of it.

Banal

Lacking originality

Supremacy

State of being the highest or the greatest

In which country is mostly polite to write in a straightforward style?

The United States. By making careful choices, it is possible to be both straightforward and polite.

Simplify this expletive: There were three children playing in the yard

Three children played in the yard.

To Exult

To express extreme joy (infinitive verb form)

Who's is the contraction of what?

Who is

"Whose" is what?

Whose is the possessive form of the relative pronoun who.

Is this correct? Squirrels climbed up Betsy's and Smitty's trees. (Betsy and Smitty have separate yards in this context).

Yes, it is correct.

Can a possessive follow the word it modifies?

Yes.

Is this correct for a plural possessive? the players' game

Yes.

Is this correctly written? Is the locker next to the door Scott's or Nathan's?

Yes.

Is this an example of an elliptical construction? Speed is the goal for some swimmers, endurance for others, and relaxation for still others.

Yes. "Is the goal" are the words omitted in the list.

Do relationships between words that are very much like ownership get apostrophes?

Yes. (An hour's delay, in a week's time, Bachelor's degree, Anna's dancing, Billy's having to be there seemed unnecessary."

Is this an allusion? ". . . transforming Jekyll-like, playful nerds into bloodthirsty grammar Hydes . . . ." (Casagrande 2).

Yes. It is an allusion to Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Can a person use an apostrophe to make certain words plural? (Example: p and q; A, three minus, 1900s)

Yes. The words that can be made plural with apostrophes are only that way to avoid confusion. p's and q's, A's, three minus's, 1900's or 1900s.

When is repetition good?

improves emphasis improves clarity improves coherence

These are examples of what? everyone, everybody

indefinite pronouns

Which case shows ownership?

possessive--The case of a noun or pronoun in English is that form of a word which shows its relationship to other words in the sentence. The three cases in English are nominative (for subjects and predicate nominatives), objective (for direct objects, indirect objects, objects of prepositions, object complements, and subjects of infinitives), and possessive. In all English nouns and indefinite pronouns, there is no difference between the form of the nominative and the form of the objective.

What does an apostrophe do?

show possession mark omissions in contractions form certain plurals