What is an apostrophe?

Definition
	An apostrophe is an address to
	an absent person, or a personified abstraction or thing.

Example (English)
	O eloquent, just, and mighty Death! (Sir Walter Raleigh’s History of the World, cited by Corbett 1971 486 )

Concept module: apostrophe
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): A
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004