Apostrophes are used to replace dropped letters in contractions and to show possession. Dashes are used sometimes instead of commas and to emphasize what follows.

1. Punctuation rules
Apostrophes and dashes
By Arundathie Abeysinghe
Lecturer in English
International Aviation Academy
SriLankan Airlines
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2. Rule 1
Use apostrophes with contractions
e.g. isn’t, don’t
 They’re coming.
To show plural possession, make the noun plural first. Then use
an apostrophe.
e.g. two children's hats
 two men’s ties
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3. Rule 3
Use apostrophes to show possession
e.g. a girl’s hat
 Ms. Wetzel’s car
Use apostrophes for nouns ending in ‘s’ after the ‘s’
e.g. Mr. Straus’s car
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4. Rule 4
Use an apostrophe and ‘s’ after the second name if two
people possess the same item
e.g. Aditya and Monica’s class will start next week.
Use an apostrophe where the noun that should follow is
implied.
This was his daughter’s, not his house.
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5. Rule 5
Use apostrophes for compound nouns to show possession
e.g. My sister-in-law’s office
If the compound noun is plural, form the plural first and then
use the apostrophe.
e.g. My three sister-in-law's houses
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6. Rule 6
Never use an apostrophe with possessive pronouns
e.g. his, hers, its, theirs, ours, yours
Why ???
They already show possession
 They do not require an apostrophe
An apostrophe is used for ’it's’ when it is a contraction for it
is or it has
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7. Dashes
Rule 1
To indicate sudden changes in tone or thought or to
insert a comment
e.g. Monica is happy-we all are-about your good results.
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8. Rule 2
Separate words in the middle of a sentence
e.g. Tom Samuel—the chairman’s most trusted
financial advisor—will resign today after the press
briefing.
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9. Rule 3
To emphasize explanatory material
e.g. “The writer is by nature a dreamer-a conscious
dreamer.”-Carson McCullers
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10. Rule 4
To indicate omitted letters or words
e.g. Oh, sh -, I forgot to send the mail
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11. Rule 5
To connect a beginning phrase to the rest of the
sentence
e.g. Michigan, USA; Sydney, Australia; Zurich,
Switzerland – these are ideal places to live.
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12. Thank you!
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