撇号 Apostrophe

The apostrophe has two uses:

1. To show the omission of letters
2. To form possessives of nouns

1. Showing omission of letters

Apostrophes are used in contractions. A contraction is a word (or set of numbers) in which one or more letters (or numbers) have been omitted. The apostrophe shows this omission. Contractions are common in speaking and in informal writing. To use an apostrophe to create a contraction, place an apostrophe where the omitted letter(s) would go. Here are some examples:

• don't = do not
• I'm = I am
• he'll = he will
• who's = who is
• shouldn't = should not
• didn't = did not
• could've= could have
• '60 = 1960

2.Forming Possessives of Nouns

To see if you need to make a possessive, turn the phrase around and make it an "of the..." phrase. For example:

• the boy's hat = the hat of the boy
• three days' journey = journey of three days

If the noun after "of" is a building, an object, or a piece of furniture, then no apostrophe is needed!

room of the hotel = hotel room
door of the car = car door
leg of the table = table leg

特殊的所有格表示法：

1. the boys' shoes（ 在复数 boys尾加上' 而不是' s）
2. the women' s bags（ woman的复数是women，所有格是' s）
   the children' s caps（ child的复数是children，和women同类型，所有格加' s）
3. the actresses' hats（actress的复数是actresses，因为结尾是es，因此所有格只加' 即可）
   the babies' toys（baby的复数是babies，结尾有es，因此所有格只加'）
4. my brother-in-law's money （复合词，'s加在最后一个词上）
5. Todd and Anne's apartment （表示两人共同拥有，'s加在最后一人上）

误： After a severe storm, the basement of her hosts house had flooded, leaving two bedrooms unusable.
正： After a severe storm, the basement of her hosts’ house had flooded, leaving two bedrooms unusable.
解析：“她主人们的房子”这个短语中的hosts应该有所有格，又因为hosts以“s”结尾，所以要在后面加撇号，正确的写法是hosts' house。

更详尽的撇号使用规则