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grahamh43957228
Participant
Dec 19, 2017 3:41 PM UTC
Question

Apostrophe the wrong way round? Contractions?

Contractions, colloquial English, is there a way of adding an apostrophe to words like 'tis, 'twas,'em, rock 'n' roll, so they are a 'nine' not a 'six', other than typing it at the end of the word, then cutting and pasting? Can it be forced at keyboard stage somehow? I regularly get a lot of 'ems to do.

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4 replies

Test Screen Name
Legend
Dec 23, 2017 12:31 PM UTC

I think you're using an app which autocorrects quotes. That's pretty sure because normally the apostrophe character puts the same mark wherever in a word you use it. 'tain't a good idea for you, turn that off so what you type is what you get, then use the appropriate shortcuts.

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Anonymous
Dec 21, 2017 11:19 AM UTC

Which program? Windows or Mac?

In InDesign you could try the Preferences > Autocorrect option, but this didn't work for me in my german InDesign.

Edit > Find/Replace > Glyphs did work.

My screenshots show that I had to create two steps for find/replace.

Step 1

Step 2

In Photoshop or Illustrator it is not so easy to do but also possible.

I hope it helps you a little bit on the way.

Fenja

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grahamh43957228Author
Participant
Dec 21, 2017 3:14 PM UTC

Thanks for that. It's a Mac I use. I can do a find and replace, but that would not help because it would be altering correct usage. It's when an apostrophe is used for a missing letter at the start of a word and needs to be the wrong way round. I'm looking at a way to enter an end-apostrophe at the beginning of a word as I type it.

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Anonymous
Dec 21, 2017 8:19 PM UTC

Oh, I see.

In Windows you can use the Alt + numpad code. It's Alt+0146 for the ’ and Alt+145 for the ‘

I don't know the equivalent on a Mac.

The Autocorrect feature could help if you use the just a few contractions very often.

It doesn't allow a ' in the first word - you'll get an error message.

It can only work this way:

Though, it makes no sense or much effort if you have too many contracted words.

Fenja

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