Exciting Facts About Apostrophes!

Which sentence uses an apostrophe correctly?

a. Penelopes' children are staying over tonight.

b. Phillip's car broke down on the highway.

c. Papas tacos' are the best I've ever tasted.

d. Pams plates' have been washed and put away.

Answer:

The sentence Phillip's car broke down on the highway is using an apostrophe correctly. The correct option is b.

An apostrophe is a punctuation mark that has an interesting history and multiple uses in the English language. It can indicate the omission of letters in contractions like "don't" (short for "do not") and can also show possession of nouns.

The history of the apostrophe dates back to the 16th century when it was introduced into English after French practice. It was first used by Pietro Bembo in his work De Aetna in 1496. In modern English, the apostrophe plays a crucial role in indicating possession, as seen in sentences like "the eagle's feathers" and "at your parents' house."

Unicode even has code points for three different forms of apostrophes to be used in computer systems, showcasing the importance of this tiny punctuation mark.