‘Who the ’ell is Apostrophe?’ asked Mark the Question (also known as ‘Question Mark’).

‘What d’yo mean, “Who am I?”’ replied Mark the Quotation, ‘I am Apostrophe.’

‘Hey? But I thought you were Mark Quotation?’ replied Question Mark.

‘That would be Quotation Mark, thank you very much,” snorted Quotation Mark, ‘but, for your information, I also double as Apostrophe.’

‘What?’ gasped Question Mark. ‘You can’t be both! And who is Double Apostrophe anyway? I’ve only ever  ’eard of Double Quotation Mark…?’

‘There IS no Double Apostrophe. There’s only Double Quotation Mark—that’s me, too!’

‘What?’

‘I can be Single and Double—depends on my mood, my malts, and my drinks…’

‘Explain.’

‘I’m a multi-personality Mark. When in Apostrophe mode, I mark Possession, in both single and plural forms— stepping to the right in the case of the latter.’

‘Clear as mud. I’ve also seen you lurking in the middle of the occasional word. Explain.’

‘I mark the spot where certain letters have gone missing from their words—as in “I’ve” instead of ‘I have”, and so on. Then I am known, formally, as the ‘Apostrophe of Omission’.”

‘Hmmm.  And when you are in Quotation mode…?’

‘Technically different but the same; a paradox. Let me explain . . .’