The characters name is Adams, have I got the apostrophe in the right place? or should it be Adams's Adams’ lips turned down at the corners in a grimace of approval, as he nodded. “Not bad, fair few quid that.”
Another question. I wish to shorten a word but it's not a common contraction and is also the first word in dialogue. the word is 'hang' and the character is dropping the h so is it 'ang or ang' and if it's dialogue and it's the first word then it would be "'ang which looks odd.
Both are 'correct'. Just need to be consistent. Some editors/publications would have a preference I'm sure. Edited to add that this was in response to the Adams' or Adams's question, not your second.
I would not recommend to use it in the first word. Just rewrite it, so that 'ang appears a bit later.... I totally agree that it would look strange going first...
My observation (anecdotal evidence only) is that s's is going out of fashion. But, for the moment anyway, it's still correct and this is a style choice. If it's a version of hang on, the apostrophe would come before the ang, not after. "'Ang on, 'ang on, who's Gemma?"
Even though the triple apostrophe looks odd? I suppose I could find another way to write so the 'Ang is not first but I would rather not.
I'm with @Tenderiser. The fact that you get a "' at the beginning of the sentence is less of an issue than it seems to us, to writers (we tend to over-worry things). The apostrophe should be placed wherever the contraction or truncation is actually happening within the word, not in a generalized "tail-end" position for all occurrences.
Surely the capitalized first letter in this sentence is the apostrophe? So: " 'and on, 'ang on, who's Gemma?" I've also put a space between the speech apostrophes and the contraction apostrophe; it may not be right, but surely it looks better?
When I wrote my master's thesis about Matthew G. Lewis, I had a conversation about the apostrophe with my professor and he recommended Lewis' just 'cause it just kind of looks neater. Adams's is maybe more phonetically correct if you think about the pronunciation...? But it looks clunky.
Nope. An apostrophe is a character, not a letter, and can't act as a capital. The first A should be capitalised.
In a way I feel kinda good knowing I have managed to avoid such the dilemma. The possessiveness of the (s's) at the end of a characters name, though I forget what it is called when it is just the simpler (s') form (unless they are technically the same form and function). And if that is the case then write it the way that feels more comfortable and correct to you. Though Tender and Wrey are correct that in the instance of things like ('ang) that it should come before and not after.
I was taught that the apostrophe goes wherever the missing letter is supposed to be (only one apostrophe, though, even if there are more missing letters).
