Apostrophes

/əˈpɒstrəfiz/ noun

Plural of apostrophe: either the punctuation mark (') used to show missing letters or possession, or a literary device where a speaker addresses someone absent or non-human.

From Greek apostrophos (turned away). The punctuation mark evolved from the rhetorical device—scribes used it to mark where letters were omitted, both meanings coexisting in modern English.

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