Apostrophes are the curly floating commas in sentences that usually indicate possession or a contraction. There are a few set phrases and holidays, however, that also use apostrophes. In fact, ...

Mark Twain’s encounter with a particular foreign tongue inspired an essay called “The Awful German Language.” Welcome to a new feature of this column. We won’t call it “The Awful English Language.” ...

He walks softly and carries a big stick. He uses it to make marks that look like little sticks. He prowls the streets at night, terrorizing shopkeepers and sign makers alike. But I’m betting regular ...

In French, to show that someone possesses something, you use their word for “of,” which is “de”: La plume de ma tante. Spanish works the same way: La venganza de Moctezuma. Italian, too: Buca di Beppo ...

Let's face it, grammar is more important for some people than for others. An ambulance driver probably has more important things to worry about than whether to hyphenate adverbs ending in "ly." (FYI: ...

Apostrophes can be used in a couple of ways. With contractions, use apostrophes to indicate that letters are missing. When two words are written in shortened form, use an apostrophe to show that some ...