By Idioms, Apostrophes

... is an ellipsis, used to show that text has been omitted. Despite popular usage in which is it used as a subsitute for every known type of punctuation except the apostrophe, use it only to show that words are missing. I have never heard "He likes shadows and fresh water" before -- it's not...

You're right; these are not ordinary idioms. The words that end in "-in" are really "-ing" forms where the final "g" is not pronounced. (In some instances in the lyrics the "g" is replaced by an apostrophe, in others it's just omitted) And the "a" is not an article -- it's "an archaic or...

I guess you don't get out much, Anon. Here is a sampling of respectable online sources. Doing a bit of Google research yourself will turn up many, many more.The American Heritage Dictionary: Grammarians have sometimes objected to the so-called double genitive construction, as in a friend of my...

I want to use idiomatic phrases to give my writing a casual tone. Please tell me if I should use apostrophes to indicate the phrase; it’s difficult for a foreigner to interpret something that doesn’t make literal sense. Example of an idiom get in on the GROUND floor become part of an...