Apostrophes, Quotation Marks, and Ellipsis Amy Morton, Jessica Jablonski, Caitlyn Caldwell

The Apostrophe Used to illustrate possession of singular and plural nouns Used to illustrate omissions of single letters Example: The mouse’s acceptance of the cookie led to a slippery slope of cause and effect. The little girl shouldn’t have been so nice.

Common Misuses When plural nouns are not possessive In possessive pronouns When forming plurals of numbers, letters, abbreviations, and words mentioned as words Example: Some cat’s cats like to have sprinkles with their cupcakes. Its It’s really a delicious combination.

The Ellipsis Consists of three spaced dots Used to indicate an omission of words from a direct quote Add a fourth dot when omitting a complete sentence Add a full line of dots when omitting a complete line of poetry May also be used to indicate a hesitation in speech or to suggest an unfinished thought Example: “If you give a pig a pancake, she’ll want some syrup to go with it….She’ll probably get all sticky, so she’ll want to take a bath. She’ll ask you for some bubbles. When you give her the bubbles…” (Numeroff)

Common Misuses When quoting a source it is unnecessary to use ellipsis marks at the beginning or the end of the quotation Example: “…[The mouse is] going to ask for a glass of milk….When he’s finished, he’ll ask for a napkin” (Numeroff).

Used to enclose direct quotations Used to indicate dialogue When enclosing a quotation within a quotation, use single quotations surrounded by double quotations Used to indicate titles of short works May be used to set off words used as words Example: “If you give a cat a cupcake, he’ll ask for some sprinkles to go with it.” The Quotation Marks

Common Misuses When indicating familiar slang, trite expressions, or an attempt at humor Example: In the book If You Give a Pig a Pancake, the pig is like “yo gimme dat” yo gimme dat pancake.

Works Cited "Apostrophes." Grammarbook. Weblink, Web. 3 Oct Hacker, Diana. Rules for Writers. 6 th. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, Print. Numeroff, Laura Joff. If You Give a Cat a Cupcake. 1st. New York City:HarperCollins, Print If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. 1st. New York City: Laura Geringer Books, Print If You Give a Pig a Pancake. 1st. New York City: Laura Geringer Books, Print.