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The apostrophe (’, ' ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritical mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet and some other alphabets. In English, the apostrophe is used for three basic purposes:
Apostrophe, quotation marks: foot (unit), Inch, Minute, Second? Question mark: Inverted question mark, Interrobang “ ” " " ‘ ’ ' ' Quotation marks: Apostrophe, Ditto, Guillemets, Prime: Inch, Second ® Registered trademark symbol: Trademark symbol ※ Reference mark: Asterisk, Dagger: Footnote ¤ Scarab (non-Unicode name) ('Scarab' is ...
The apostrophe (ʼ) is not usually considered part of the English alphabet nor used as a diacritic, even in loanwords. But it is used for two important purposes in written English: to mark the "possessive" [r] and to mark contracted words. Current standards require its use for both purposes.
Little punctuation marks—like a comma, question mark, or an apostrophe—can make or break the flow or meaning of a sentence. In fact, this is how confusing life would be without proper punctuation.
The only diacritic native to Modern English is the two dots (representing a vowel hiatus): its usage has tended to fall off except in certain publications and particular cases. [3] [a] Proper nouns are not generally counted as English terms except when accepted into the language as an eponym – such as Geiger–Müller tube.
The word diacritic is a noun, though it is sometimes used in an attributive sense, whereas diacritical is only an adjective. Some diacritics, such as the acute ó , grave ò , and circumflex ô (all shown above an 'o'), are often called accents. Diacritics may appear above or below a letter or in some other position such as within the letter or ...
A few letters, such as that of the voiced pharyngeal fricative, ʕ , were inspired by other writing systems (in this case, the Arabic letter ﻉ , ʿayn, via the reversed apostrophe). [9] Some letter forms derive from existing letters: The right-swinging tail, as in ʈ ɖ ɳ ɽ ʂ ʐ ɻ ɭ , indicates retroflex articulation.
Whenever the most common spelling in English-language reliable sources is the person's real name, or the name with the diacritical marks simply omitted, the proper name (with the diacritics) is normally used.