The style that many of us are accustomed tosimply adding an apostrophe after the s e. The apostrophe probably causes more grief than all of the other punctuation marks put together. Strunk and whites stepbystep manual of sentence construction. Here s how the original strunk and white stated the same rule. Thus write, red, white, and blue honest, energetic, but headstrong he opened. Using an unnecessary apostrophe to form the plural of a noun is a very common mistake. In 1957 the style guide reached the attention of e.
Tenney later revised it for publication as the elements and practice of composition 1935. White 18991985, a former student of strunks and today probably best. Ive edited professionally in quite a number of contexts, and the bestthoughtout style guides always follow strunk and white. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and. Start studying strunk and whites elements of style punctuation rules. Hammurabis code, dickenss last novel, jamess cello. Strunk and white subject is a crossword puzzle clue. The elements of style, by william strunka project gutenberg. Anthony trys to enjoy his tropical fish, but the aquarium glass is filthy with algae.
Giving the power of the internet to distribute free items and the nature of people to go for the easy option it is likely that strunk and white the elements of style. He opened the letter, read it and made a note of its contents. You want to know if it is still the case that charles s is grammatically correct, as prescribed by strunk and white over fifty years ago. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. The same logic goes for years instead of writing spandex was popular in the 1980s, use 1980s. The elements of stylerules wikisource, the free online. Why do periods and commas go inside quotation marks in mla. The fourth edition of the elements of style 2000, published 54 years after strunk s death, omits his stylistic advice about masculine pronouns. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Contents preface iii i introductory 1 ii elementary rules of usage 3 1. It is the case that charles s is still grammatically correct, because writing reflects speech and most native speakers still pronounce the s twice. Strunk and white subject is a crossword puzzle clue that we have spotted 7 times. Classical or biblical names, such as moses, which take only an apostrophe. But strunk and white suggest that despite what turabian says, its probably better to say the laws of moses and the temple of isis than to say moses laws or isis temple strunk and white 1.
So as to curtail my breach of the of the book, ill let you read the original text to pick up the books full wisdom, and to learn about the words and expressions that mess people up. Save considerably by purchasing the complete 11rule quiz set, which correlates with strunk and whites primar. It is the case that charless is still grammatically correct, because writing reflects speech and most native speakers still pronounce the s twice. Inconsistency in strunk and white regarding serial comma. This is a very, very rare case, where we use an apostrophe to show that something is plural, and it almost never happens, but we will explain when it does. From strunk and white s the elements of style, chapter 2, lesson 2.
What is the general rule for forming the possessive of singular nouns. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after. Choose from 171 different sets of strunk white flashcards on quizlet. Also strunk and white the elements of style is a small pocket sized reference, whilst pullums the cambridge grammar of the english language is a 1764 page brick. Thus write, charles s friend burns s poems the witch s malice exceptions are the possessives of ancient proper names ending in es and is, the possessive jesus, and such forms as or conscience sake, for righteousness sake.
A summary of the elements of style by strunk and white. But that s what the rule seems to suggest because it s so poorly stated. Thus write, charless friend burnss poems the witchs malice this is the usage of the united states government printing of. Form the possessive of all singular nouns, even those ending in. The unexpected harmony and partnership of strunk and whites have fulfilled their central claim successfully, namely clarity of writing still comes from concision and precision. In this video, we examine ten principles of good writing, including make the paragraph the unit of composition, and place the. And thats also something strunk and white recommend.
English is, as gorgonzola points out below, less prescriptive, there is no situation where applying the rules above would be positively wrong, strunk and white notwitstanding. This brief quiz assesses student understanding of usage rule 1, regarding apostrophes for possession, from strunk and white s the elements of style. This brief quiz assesses student understanding of usage rule 1, regarding apostrophes for possession, from strunk and whites the elements of style. The elements of style by strunk and white introduction to. White have a vicelike grip on educated americans views about grammar and. The only time an apostrophe should be used in a year is if its standing in for omitted numbers. This is professor strunk s advice regarding this rule. In its place, the following sentence has been added. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines.
The problem nearly always seems to stem from not understanding that the apostrophe has two very different and very important uses in english. Paige so today, were gonna talk about apostrophes and plurals. May 27, 2019 know how to use apostrophes for acronyms and years. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last. Form the possessive singular of nouns with s follow this rule whatever the.
Many writers make the mistake of adding just an apostrophe to form the possessive of singular nouns ending in. Pdf find, read and cite all the research you need on. I understood that making text entities with nonletter characters into a plural form, you separate the s from the term with an apostrophe 1900s, jones, smiths, or bang. We put the apostrophe after the letter s in a plural. The apostrophe s s causes a great deal of unnecessary trouble. And they learn that the whole notion of possession is rather screwy and illdefined. Note that contractions are often considered too informal for academic writing. Correct them by adding an apostrophe or an apostrophe and s where needed.
Today were going to start talking about a different piece of punctuation and that piece of punctuation is the apostrophe it kind of looks like a comma, but it s one that floats in the air here s the ground, here s the word ground, and if we say paige s dog atti were using the apostrophe, not. Thus write, red, white, and blue honest, energetic, but headstrong he opened the letter, read it, and made a note of its contents. The most important rule of style in strunk and whites elements of style is number, omit needless words. Thus write, red, white, and blue honest, energetic, but headstrong.
Form the possessive case of a plural noun by adding an apostrophe after the final letter if it is an s or by adding s if the final letter is not an s. The apostrophe is used to mark omitted letters in contractions. We talked about this a little bit in our introduction to the apostrophe video. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma. Thus write, charless friend burnss poems the witchs malice exceptions are the possessives of ancient proper names ending in es and is, the possessive jesus, and such forms as or conscience sake, for righteousness sake. According to the chicago manual of style and strunk and white s elements of style, you make a possessive out of common nouns ending in s by adding an apostrophe, regardless of whether theyre singluar or plural. But just between you and me, you can use this shootfromthehip style in personal email. It is one of the most influential and bestknown prescriptive treatments of english grammar and usage in the united states. Here, strunk introduces readers to the most basic grammar rules. We very rarely use the apostrophe to show plurals and only under special.
Indefinite pronouns, however, use the apostrophe to show possession. This reader wants to know why we write 1980s and not 1980s. Johns coat, the horses tail, new zealands beautiful scenery. The unexpected harmony and partnership of strunk and white s have fulfilled their central claim successfully, namely clarity of writing still comes from concision and precision. He explains, firstly, how to form possessive singulars of nouns an example given is charless friend. I find strunks description of apostrophe s to be concise and to the point. It was this recurring question, put to himself, that must have inspired white to revive and add to a textbook by an english professor of his, will strunk jr. To show separate ownership, use separate apostrophes.
The elements of style wikisource, the free online library. Jamess books a platypuss bill the fishs scales the students rights exercise. With very few exceptions, apostrophes do not make nouns plural. Know how to use apostrophes for acronyms and years. Voiceover hello grammarians hello paige, voiceover hi, david. As strunk and white remind us in the elements of style 4th ed. The dogs leashes if the noun ending in s is singular, most sources recommend adding both the apostrophe and an additional s. White, writing in 1959, noted that typographical usage dictates the comma be inside the marks, though logically it. You want to know if it is still the case that charless is grammatically correct, as prescribed by strunk and white over fifty years ago it is the case that charless is still grammatically correct, because writing reflects speech and most native speakers still pronounce the s twice that is not to say that charles is. Thus write, charless friend burnss poems the witchs malice exceptions are the possessives of ancient proper names in es and is, the possessive jesus, and such forms as for conscience sake, for righteousness sake. This is professor strunks advice regarding this rule.
But such forms as moses laws, isis temple are commonly replaced by. Strunk notes there are exceptions, and that pronominal possessives, such as hers, its, theirs, have no apostrophe. With irregular plurals, we put the apostrophe before the letter s. Simplified and illustrated for busy people kindle edition by strunk jr. The only practice i detest is using the apostrophe with x, as though x. The rule is about apostrophes, but the rule is stated with an extra apostrophe so we are immediately confused.
The elements of style by strunk and white introduction. You want to know if it is still the case that charless is grammatically correct, as prescribed by strunk and white over fifty years ago. If you use these rules you will never be using the apostrophe incorrectly, since although u. However, it is readers s or readers duty to read everything, even style critically, and henceforth rather than considering their rules and principles as rigid laws. The first writer i watched at work was my stepfather, e. The plural form of most sh names is formed by adding s or occasionally es or. This public document was automatically mirrored from pdfy.
However, it is readerss or readers duty to read everything, even style critically, and henceforth rather than considering their rules and principles as rigid laws. The dog s leashes but if the apostrophe comes after the s, we understand that many dogs have a variety of leashes. B whites former professor composed this miniguide to editing content and the style of minimalism in writing, which he in turn published on a larger scale and added some of his own wisdom to. The land of the free and the elements of style linguistics and. Cornell university english professor william strunk jr. The most important rule of style in strunk and white s elements of style is number, omit needless words. Nov 09, 2017 i find strunk s description of apostrophe s to be concise and to the point. English department writing guide the university of buckingham. Sometimes, its called the grocers apostrophe because of how frequently it is spotted in grocery store advertisements 3 oranges for a dollar. The book is the element of style by william strunk, jr. William strunks elements of style arbortown properties. Did you know that canadas head of government is called the prime minister. A new approach to flannery oconnors short story can be found in the essay the uncanny theology of a good man is hard to find. With a singular noun, such as john, horse, new zealand, an apostrophe and an s are added at the end of the word to indicate ownership.
Strunk and whites elements of style punctuation rules. Exceptions are the possessives of ancient proper names in es and is, the. Save considerably by purchasing the complete 11rule quiz set, which correlates with strunk and white s primar. James s books a platypus s bill the fish s scales the student s rights exercise. Pdf style, usage, grammar, and punctuation ch 4 researchgate. Thus write, charles s friend burns s poems the witch s malice exceptions are the possessives of ancient proper names in es and is, the possessive jesus, and such forms as for conscience sake, for righteousness sake. Today were going to start talking about a different piece of punctuation and that piece of punctuation is the apostrophe it kind of looks like a comma, but its one that floats in the air heres the ground, heres the word ground, and if we say paiges dog atti were using the apostrophe, not. Strunk and whites the elements of style receives frequent mention in articles about writing originating as a classroom study aid prepared by cornell english professor william strunk in 1918, this widelyused desk reference of english usage, form, and style continues to influence writers after a hundred years. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the elements of style. In this video, we examine ten principles of good writing, including make the.
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