Maybe their teachers never explained? My sixth grade English teacher - the second year we were actually allowed to read and write English - told us 'The apostrophe stands for something missing, so it goes where you dropped a letter.' and never had to explain again. My seventh grade teacher banned the use of contractions as too difficult even for native speakers. (I ignored the ban, because I felt I knew what I was doing and she in turn ignored my contractions.)
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Date: 29 Jan 2009 11:04 am (UTC)My sixth grade English teacher - the second year we were actually allowed to read and write English - told us 'The apostrophe stands for something missing, so it goes where you dropped a letter.' and never had to explain again. My seventh grade teacher banned the use of contractions as too difficult even for native speakers. (I ignored the ban, because I felt I knew what I was doing and she in turn ignored my contractions.)