Apostrophes & Hyphens

Uses of an apostrophe

  • Contractions (two words combined together)

-“do not” = “don’t” (it also shows leaving out a letter or more)

-“Tom’s” = “Tom is” or “Tom has”

  • Possession (singular & plural possession)

-“Mary’s” = belonging to Mary (singular possession)

-“dogs’” = belonging to more than one dog (plural possession)

  • Leaving out a letter(s)

-use apostrophe to leave out more than one letter in middle of one word (“b’day” = “birthday”)

-you NEVER use apostrophe to leave out only one letter in the middle of one word (“homew’rk” = CANNOT do this; not allowed)

-you may use an apostrophe at the beginning or ending of a word to leave out only one letter if you wish (“fishin’” = “fishing”; “ ‘round” = “around”)

  • Plurals of letters, numbers, and symbols

-more than one letter “r” = “ r’s”

-more than one number 7 = “ 7’s” (it would also be okay to NOT use an apostrophe to form the plural of a number 7 – “7s”)

-more than one symbol “$” = “ $’s”

Uses of a hyphen ( - )

  • Aside to show emphasis/expression

-“The counselor was enraged about the math test – because it was all about the WASL.”

  • Hyphenated Words and Numbers

-the number 31 as a word = “thirty-one”

-compound words not in a dictionary (“red-headed”, “blue-eyed”, “snake-bitten”); these words are often ADJECTIVES and usually end in the letter combination of “ed” or “ing”, but not always

  • Leaving out a letter or more

-“I was solving a crossword puzzle and saw the word ‘soft-all’, and I knew that it had to be ‘softball’,” said Coach Moffatt.

-the hyphen is used for ONLY leaving out one letter at a time, and more than one hyphen may be used in a word (“b-s-b-ll” = “baseball”)

  • Spelling out a word letter-by-letter

-“I like to say ‘h-o-m-e-w-o-r-k’ in class to upset the students!” hollered Mr. Moffatt.

-When you read a word that is spelled out letter-by-letter, you actually say each letter individually – you do NOT say the whole word

  • Stutter effect

-to show that a person is stuttering (repeating a letter/sound pattern) when talking, you use a hyphen between each letter pattern repeated (“s-s-st-stop”)

-do not use it like spelling out a letter and call it stuttering (“s-t-o-p” = NO)

-examples: “p-p-pi-pic-pic-p-picture”, “s-st-s-st-sta-stapler”

  • Line-break

-when you come to the end of a line of writing, if you cannot fit an entire word on the line, you use a hyphen between syllables to show that the word is continued on the next line…read the next line to see what I do with the word “gigantic” as it approaches the end of the enormously, gigan-

tic sentence (I used a “line-break” for the word “gigantic”)

  • Syllable break

-to show the breakdown of syllables in a word: “in-ter-est-ing” (the word “interesting” is a four-

syllable word; the hyphens show the separation of one syllable to another)

  • Interrupting someone (cutting someone off) in conversation/dialogue

-sometimes in a story/book, a person will be shown to speak, but before the person finishes his/her thought/saying, another person “interrupts” (or “cuts that person off”) the him/her

Example:

Bob said, “Notre Dame football rocks the – ”

Mr. Moffatt immediately stopped Bob, yelling, “Notre Dame football is lame!”