Apostro-what?

Hello, my lovelies,

Today I bring you an article, by request of The Mistress herself, dealing with one particular punctuation mark - the apostrophe.

Now, many of you know what an apostrophe is and how it should be used, however, many more still use it incorrectly. This easy to follow guide should hopefully clear that up for you all and make everyone's lives easier!

First, what is an apostrophe? The obvious answer is a punctuation mark that looks like this: ' But what is it used for?

The apostrophe serves two main purposes. The first is used to indicate one or missing letters in a word and is often used to shorten one or more words into a single word. For example, does not becomes doesn't and cannot becomes can't. Are you with me so far? Good, because here is where things get just that little bit more complex.

The second use of the apostrophe is to indicate that something belongs to someone. Examples of this include Belthizor's article and the cat's whiskers.

See how the apostrophe can make a big difference? What frustrates me the most is when people fail to use the apostrophe appropriately. The simple way to avoid incorrect use is to slow down and think about what you're trying to write - is it belonging or missing? if it is neither, then don't use an apostrophe.

Now that I've cleared that up, I hope for your sakes that you follow my advice. I will not be very happy if I see things like "Theres no way out!" or "Those animals are cat's". Use an apostrophe, and make everyone happy.

Until next time, happy writing, and remember "Let's eat grandma" changes with the addition of a comma - "Let's eat, grandma". Punctuation - it saves lives!

Yours,

Lord Belthizor, Assistant Editor for Mistress Journals and Naughty Nights Press (NNP)