Apostrophes; Exclamation marks; Question marks

APOSTROPHES
The apostrophe has 2 main uses:

1. The apostrophe to show possession:
a. Singular
An apostrophe and the letter s is used to show possession with indefinite pronouns, with animate nouns and with expressions of time.

An indefinite pronoun is one which refers to some unknown or unspecified person.
I borrowed someone’sbook.
Anyone’s comments will be welcome.

An animate noun is one used for anything living such as a person or animal.
Carol’s skill;
Thedog’s bark;
Myfriend’s bible

Notice the difference between those examples and inanimate nouns, or objects which are not living. Possession is then shown by the word of
The colour of the lantern;
The population of China

An expression of time, whether singular or plural can, and usually does, take an apostrophe ands.
One hour’s work;
three years’ experience

b. Plural
When, as happens almost all the time, the plural ends in s, an apostrophe follows the s to show possession.
The boys’ team;
The dogs’ training session;
The ladies’ evening

However when the plural ends in any other way an apostrophe and s are added.
The men’s room;
The children’s playhouse

When you have a double subject, only give the second noun an apostrophe.
Ee Chuan and Lyn’s report.

Personal pronouns and possessive adjectives NEVER take apostrophes.
Personal pronouns - Mine, his, hers, ours, yours, theirs
Possessive adjectives - My, his, her, its, our, your their


2. The apostrophe to show contraction:
When 2 words are run together to make writing seem closer to speech, an apostrophe shows something is left out and 2 words have been merged:
I am delighted becomes I’m delighted.
It is hot becomes It’s hot.
We have finished becomes We’ve finished.
They will be coming becomes They’ll be coming.

Notice the difference in meaning and form between the two words it is contracted into it’s and the possessive adjective its in its colour.


EXCLAMATION MARKS
Don’t use them unless you must, and don’t ever use 2 or more together. Too much punctuation is like too much salt in the soup. It completely spoils the taste.


QUESTION MARKS
Question marks for direct questions go INSIDE the quotation marks.
She asked, “Have you seen my thesis?”

Question marks go OUTSIDE quotation marks for a statement within a question.
Did Shima say, “I handed it to Raman”?

Drop the 2nd question mark (at the end) if you have a question within a question.
Did Lyn ask, “Are you going to supervise my thesis?"