dog's bone (singular) girl's bag (singular) girls' locker room (plural) students' shoes (plural) Mark's house (singular) Mrs. Sims's classroom (singular, ends in "s," one syllable) Mr. Jones' car (singular, ends in "s," two syllables) Children's playground (plural but does not end in "s") Examples of Apostrophes for Omitted Letters Contractions Often you will see apostrophe in literature start with the word "O" or "Oh.". For example, in William Shakespeare's Sonnet 148 he writes, O cunning love, with tears thou keepst me blind Jane Taylor uses apostrophe in the well-known poem, The Star: "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky." This poem became one of the most popular nursery rhymes told to little children - often in the form of song. Anastrophe Examples in Literature. Anastrophe means "turning around" in Greek. English language syntax usually follows a subject-verb-object order, so anastrophe inverts that order for effect. One of the most well-known characters who speaks in anastrophe is Yoda from the Star Wars films. Lesson Transcript. Maria is a teacher and a learning specialist and has master's degrees in literature and education. Personification and apostrophe are literary devices that either describe or The ruling is quite simple: the apostrophe goes before the "s" for a single unit of time (e.g., one day's pay) and after the "s" when it's more than one (e.g., two days' pay). Examples: I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun. (Inventor Thomas Edison) It's not worth it for just two minutes' pleasure. Importance of Apostrophe in Poetry, Prose, and Song . As a form of direct address to an inanimate object, apostrophe serves to further poetic imagery and often emphasizes the emotional weight of objects in our everyday world. The figure of speech serves a vital function in everyone from Mary Shelley's works ( "Scoffing devil! In this example, the speaker is addressing a star as if it were a person who is present and can actually hear. Another example of an apostrophe in poetry is in a poem by John Donne called 'Death Be Not Proud,' in which the entire poem is addressed to Death, personifying death, treating the concept as a person. Lesson Summary Can you spot the apostrophe? Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. (Jane Taylor) O holy night! The stars are brightly shining! (Adolphe Adam) Then come, sweet death, and rid me of this grief. (Queen Isabel in Edward II by Christopher Marlowe) O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth. (Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene I) The rules about forming possessive nouns probably cause the most apostrophe confusion. They vary a little bit, depending on what type of noun you are making into a possessive. Here are the rules of thumb: For most singular nouns, add apostrophe+s: The dog's leash The writer's desk The planet's atmosphere. You may also see symbolism in poetry Talking to stars, clouds, and the wind is an apostrophe. Example 4: Death Be Not Proud (By John Donne) "Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so, For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me."