10.4 Apostrophes, Hyphens, and Dashes

10.4 Apostrophes, Hyphens, and Dashes

Use an apostrophe for the following:

• show possession

  • Rebecca's sister

  • My brother's plan

• show the omission of letters as used in contractions or numbers

  • wouldn't

  • spirit of '76

• show the plural of lowercase letters (but not of capital letters unless the plural can be mistaken for a word)

  • i's a's Rs Ms (but U's and I's)

• in compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine

• to separate parts of some compound words

  • sister-in-law

  • drive-in

• to divide a word between syllables at the end of the line

Many locomotives run on power s-

upplied by electricity from overhe-

ad cables.

• to form some temporary adjectives before nouns

  • natural-gas pipeline

Use a hyphen for the following:

• to set off an appositive that contains commas

  • His wife studies languages---Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish.

• to set off words that indicate a change of thought (random nonrestrictive element)

  • Mr. Blair---I believe he drives an SUV---teaches math.

  • Ms. Conway---She loves coffee---wants to talk about punctuation.

Use a dash for the following:

Multiple Choice

What does the following sentence need: My aunts birthday is coming soon.

• apostrophe

• hyphen

• dash

Multiple Choice

What does the following sentence need: My aunt's thirty seventh birthday is coming soon.

• apostrophe

• hyphen

• dashes

Multiple Choice

What does the following sentence need: Our neighbors Emma, Rose, and Jessie cannot come to the party.

• apostrophe

• hyphen

• dashes

Multiple Choice

What does the following sentence need: My brother offered to help an unusual thing for him.

• apostrophe

• hyphen

• dash

Multiple Choice

What does the following sentence need: He and my great grandmother will bake a chocolate cake.

• apostrophe

• hyphen

• dash

Multiple Choice

What does the following sentence need: Shell hang the balloons in the backyard.

• apostrophe

• hyphen

• dash