Ma'am is short for madam. So there is a letter, d, missing.
The apostrophe represents the missing letter or letters.
to indicate missing letters
o'clock is short for "of the clock". The apostrophe indicates that there are letters missing.
The apostrophe in "they'd" stands for the missing letters in "they would" or "they had."
"Yo'" has an apostrophe because it is a shortened form of "your". The apostrophe represents the missing letters u and r.
An apostrophe "stands in" for missing letters in a contraction. o'clock is a contraction of "of the clock" and the apostrophe indicates the missing letters.
haven't (The apostrophe replaces the missing letters, not the space.)
Yes. The apostrophe is used to show possession, such as in "the dog's collar". it is also used in a contraction to indicate missing letters, such as in "can't", where the letters n and o are missing.
Li'l (the apostrophe takes place of the missing letters)
An apostrophe is an indication of a 'missing' letter (or letters). For example, that's instead of that is - can't in stead of cannot etc.
An apostrophe is used in a contraction to represent that letters have been removed. In the word can't the apostrophe is taking the place of the letters "no". In the word don't the apostrophe is also taking the place of the letter "o".
Wherever a letter (or letters) is missing is where the apostrophe should go. For example, in do not or can not the contraction drops the 'o' in 'not' so the apostrophe takes its place - don't; can't. In this same way, whenever 's is used, the apostrophe is taking the place of the 'i' in 'is'.