How many letters are there in the English alphabet?

[Odessa Dawn]

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Shouldn't we add apostrophe to this list. Apostrophe is a letter. It is not a punctuation mark at all. The Guardian says that apostrophe is a punctuation mark, and I quote ...

Later this month members of Mid Devon district council's cabinet will discuss formally banning the pesky little punctuation marks from its (no apostrophe needed) street signs, apparently to avoid "confusion".
The news of the Tory-controlled council's (apostrophe required) decision provoked howls of condemnation on Friday from champions of plain English, fans of grammar, and politicians. Even the government felt the need to join the campaign to save the apostrophe.
Outrage at local authority plans to abolish apostrophe | Society | The Guardian

I disagree with the Guardian and I would say that there are twenty-seven letters in the English alphabet. Do you agree with me?

Thank you.
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[Raymott]

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Shouldn't we add apostrophe to this list. Apostrophe is a letter. It is not a punctuation mark at all. The Guardian says that apostrophe is a punctuation mark, and I quote ...



I disagree with the Guardian and I would say that there are twenty-seven letters in the English alphabet. Do you agree with me?

Thank you.
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26. Apostrophe isn't a letter.
But I'm interested in your argument as to why it should be considered a letter. If it's based on street names, wouldn't you have to add the hyphen too?

 

[5jj]

No. In English, the apostrophe is definitely a punctuation mark, not a letter of the alphabet.

 

[Tdol]

It indicates a missing letter, but that doesn't make it a letter, or it shows possession, and in some (often disputed) cases can indicate a plural. These don't add up to making it a letter in English to me.

 

[konungursvia]

Well our OP is probably making an analogy with an Arabic letter, the hamzah al wazl (hamzah al-wasl 6) which looks like an apostrophe, is considered a letter, and doesn't do much but separate or cause a glottal stop. But I agree with the other teachers, apostrophe is not a letter, since it doesn't have a pronunciation, ever.