What is a primary function of an apostrophe?

• A. Indicates possession or creates a contraction.
• B. Denotes italics.
• C. Signals the end of a sentence.
• D. Indicates a number in parentheses.

Answer: (A)

Apostrophes primarily indicate possession and form contractions. For ownership, put an apostrophe after the possessor: a singular noun takes ’s (the teacher’s desk), while a plural noun that ends with s takes only an apostrophe after the s (the teachers’ lounge). For contractions, an apostrophe stands in for missing letters (it’s raining = it is raining; can’t = cannot). An apostrophe isn’t used to italicize text, end a sentence (that’s a period, question mark, or exclamation point), or enclose numbers in parentheses. A handy tip is to remember its versus it’s: its indicates possession without an apostrophe, while it’s is the contraction for it is.