Apostrophe (rhetoric)

Etymology

From Greek apostrophḗ, "a turning away," from apó ("away") + stréphein ("to turn") — the orator turns away from the audience to address someone else. The punctuation mark shares the root because it too marks a "turning away," standing in for omitted letters; but this rhetorical figure is the older, spoken sense.

noun · /uh-POS-truh-fee/
A rhetorical break in which a speaker turns to address someone absent or something abstract.
What it names
The theatrical swerve of "O Death, where is thy sting?" — a speaker suddenly buttonholing a person, idea, or object that cannot answer, heightening the emotion.
Example
Mid-eulogy he broke into apostrophe, speaking directly to his late father: "You should be here to see this."
Related idea
Personification gives human traits to the nonhuman; apostrophe simply addresses something — present or not, human or not — and the two often appear together.
noun · /uh-POS-truh-fee/
The punctuation mark ’ used to show possession or to mark where letters have been dropped in a contraction.
What it names
the raised comma-shaped mark in “don’t” or “Kunal’s”
Example
“Its” and “it’s” trip people up because the apostrophe here signals a contraction, not possession.
Related idea
The same Greek word gave both this mark and the rhetorical figure; where it belongs is a question of orthography.