Role of Apostrophe

The apostrophe is a punctuation mark used to indicate possession or the omission of letters or numbers in contractions.

·       Possession: The apostrophe is used to indicate possession, such as "Sarah's car" or "the dog's toy". It shows that something belongs to someone or something else.

·       Contractions: The apostrophe is also used to indicate contractions, which are shortened forms of two words combined. For example, "can't" is a contraction of "cannot", and "it's" is a contraction of "it is". The apostrophe is used to indicate the missing letter(s) or number(s).

In both cases, the apostrophe is used to indicate a missing letter or letters. In the case of possession, the apostrophe is used to show that the possessive "s" has been omitted (e.g. John's instead of John his). In the case of contraction, the apostrophe is used to show that one or more letters have been omitted (e.g. can't instead of cannot). 

It is important to note that the apostrophe is not used to indicate plurals. For example, "apple's" should only be used when indicating possession, such as "the apple's core". If referring to more than one apple, it should be written as "apples".

Using the apostrophe correctly is important for clear and accurate communication in writing.