Since the words boys and girls are already plural, the apostrophe is added after the “s” to show possession. The minuscule form ſ, called the long s, developed in the early medieval period, within the Visigothic and Carolingian hands, with predecessors in the half-uncial and cursive scripts of Late Antiquity. It remained standard in western writing throughout the medieval period and was adopted in early printing with movable types.
Word History and Origins
- For example, “my son’s toys” will be “the toys that belong to my son”.
- It also commonly represents a voiced alveolar sibilant /z/, as in ‘rose’ and ‘bands’.
- In Spain, the change was mainly accomplished between 1760 and 1766.
- In some words of French origin, ⟨s⟩ is silent, as in ‘isle’ or ‘debris’.
- When doubled, the letter represents the unvoiced sound in all positions (e.g., in grasses, miss, and assess).
You need to show plurality when talking about more than one or speaking in general terms about all of the items in one category. In some Andalusian dialects of Spanish, it merged with Peninsular Spanish ⟨c⟩ and ⟨z⟩ and is now pronounced /θ/. In some words of French origin, ⟨s⟩ is silent, as in ‘isle’ or ‘debris’.
How to Indicate a Contraction
In other Italic alphabets (Venetic, Lepontic), the letter could be represented as a zig-zagging line of any number between three and six strokes. “My computer” is an “it” subject, so the verbs “break” and “frustrate” need to add “s” to agree. Therefore you need to add “s” to the verbs “love” and “eat” so the subject and verb agree. Once again, notice the plural noun, students, uses “s” followed by an apostrophe to show possession. This sentence is comparing the two rooms used by the boys and the girls.
Commonly Misspelled Words
The early Latin alphabet adopted sigma, but not san, as Old Latin did not have a /ʃ/ “sh” phoneme. This has become voiced in English when intervocalic (e.g., in houses and nose). In most other positions, it remains unvoiced (e.g., in sing, save, speak, and aspect). When doubled, the letter represents the unvoiced sound in all positions (e.g., in grasses, miss, and assess).
The Semitic samech appears in Greek as Ξ (xi) with the value in early times of /ss/, later and more generally of /x/ or /ks/. The name samech, however, which through its Aramaic form became in Greek Σ (sigma), was applied to the letter that corresponded to Semitic sin and stood for /s/. Semitic ssade appears in the early alphabets of Thera and Corinth in a form that represents /s/.
Other representations
Again, the proper noun, Les, always ends in “s.” Notice the apostrophe is added after the “s”. For all proper nouns ending in “s,” it is accepted to add ‘s (Myles’s homework). Add “S” on the end of a verb in present tense to agree with the singular “he,” “she,” or “it” subject. In Portuguese, it may represent the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative /ʃ/ in most dialects when syllable-final, and [ʒ] in European Portuguese Islão (Islam) or, in many sociolects of Brazilian Portuguese, esdrúxulo (proparoxytone). “It’s” is simply a shorter way of saying “it is.” Several other words are commonly used with ‘s to show a contraction.
If you are referring to a general rule, or are speaking about ALL of the items in one category (all trees, all computers, all schools), then you must add “S.” Also, remember not to use “the” in front of the plural noun when you are referring to a general category. For example, “my son’s toys” will be “the toys that belong to my son”. In several Western Romance languages, like Spanish and French, the final ⟨s⟩ is the usual mark of plural nouns.
It existed alongside minuscule “round” or “short” s, which were at the time only used at the end of words. The Western Greek alphabet used in Cumae was adopted by the Etruscans and Latins in the 7th century BC, and over the following centuries, it developed into a range of Old Italic alphabets, including the Etruscan alphabet and the early Latin alphabet. In Etruscan, the value /s/ of Greek sigma (��) was maintained, while san (��) represented a separate phoneme, most likely /ʃ/ “sh” (transliterated as ś).
In vision and other words ending in -sion, the s, provided it is not doubled, has the voiced sound /zh/, and it has a similar sound in such words as pleasure and leisure. A rounded form appeared in the Chalcidian alphabet, and from this it was taken into Latin. Etruscan had no rounded form, but it appears in Umbrian and Faliscan. In England in the 17th century a looped form was introduced, and this is occasionally still seen in handwriting when followed by another s. There was a Greek minuscule form c of the 9th century ce, and this may be the source both of the Cyrillic c and of the lunate sigma used in some fonts of modern Greek type.
In most Western orthographies, the ſ gradually fell out of use during the second half of the 18th century, although it remained in occasional use into the 19th century. In Spain, the change was mainly accomplished between 1760 and 1766. Printers in the United States stopped using the long s between 1795 and 1810. In English orthography, the London printer John Bell (1745–1831) pioneered the change. Encyclopædia Britannica’s 5th edition, completed in 1817, was the last edition to use the long s. The ‘s indicates that one room is owned by my brother, while the other is owned by my sister.
It also commonly represents a voiced alveolar sibilant /z/, as in ‘rose’ and ‘bands’. Due to yod-coalescence, it may also represent a voiceless palato-alveolar fricative /ʃ/, as in ‘sugar’, or a voiced palato-alveolar fricative /ʒ/, as in ‘measure’. It corresponds to the Semitic sin “tooth.” The Greek treatment of the sibilants that occur in the Semitic alphabet is somewhat complicated.
These alphabets have no sigma, while those that have sigma do not have the Semitic ssade. In the International Phonetic Alphabet, ⟨s⟩ represents the voiceless alveolar sibilant /s/. The shape of Latin S arises from Greek Σ by dropping one out of the four strokes of that letter. The (angular) S-shape composed of three strokes existed as a variant of the four-stroke letter Σ already in the epigraphy of Western Greek alphabets, and the three and four strokes variants existed alongside one another in the classical Etruscan alphabet.