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. With irregular plurals, we put the apostrophe before the letter s. Correct them by adding an apostrophe or an apostrophe and s where needed. 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 apostrophe in contractions the most common use of apostrophes in english is for contractions, where a noun. 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. 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. The elements of stylerules wikisource, the free online.
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. Thus write, red, white, and blue honest, energetic, but headstrong. In its place, the following sentence has been added. Exceptions are the possessives of ancient proper names in es and is, the. Simplified and illustrated for busy people kindle edition by strunk jr. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the elements of style. The elements of style by strunk and white introduction to. With very few exceptions, apostrophes do not make nouns plural.
Know how to use apostrophes for acronyms and years. 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. But such forms as moses laws, isis temple are commonly replaced by. The dogma often attributed to strunk is addressed in the forward by e. Nov 09, 2017 i find strunk s description of apostrophe s to be concise and to the point. 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. 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. If you use these rules you will never be using the apostrophe incorrectly, since although u. 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.
We put the apostrophe after the letter s in a plural. Ive edited professionally in quite a number of contexts, and the bestthoughtout style guides always follow strunk and white. Indefinite pronouns, however, use the apostrophe to show possession. 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. This brief quiz assesses student understanding of usage rule 1, regarding apostrophes for possession, from strunk and whites the elements of style. The pronominal possessives hers, its, theirs, yours, and oneself have no apostrophe. Strunk and whites stepbystep manual of sentence construction. Voiceover hello grammarians hello paige, voiceover hi, david. In this video, we examine ten principles of good writing, including make the paragraph the unit of composition, and place the.
Strunk and white recommended this decades ago, and controversy continues to this day. Inconsistency in strunk and white regarding serial comma. The fourth edition of the elements of style 2000, published 54 years after strunk s death, omits his stylistic advice about masculine pronouns. The bad luck that plagues odysseus odysseus s bad luck the strong tentacles of the octopus the. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Sometimes, its called the grocers apostrophe because of how frequently it is spotted in grocery store advertisements 3 oranges for a dollar. Form the possessive of all singular nouns, even those ending in. It is the case that charles s is still grammatically correct, because writing reflects speech and most native speakers still pronounce the s twice. James s books a platypus s bill the fish s scales the student s rights exercise. Classical or biblical names, such as moses, which take only an apostrophe. This is professor strunks advice regarding this rule. Johns coat, the horses tail, new zealands beautiful scenery.
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. In 1957 the style guide reached the attention of e. The elements of style, by william strunka project gutenberg. Strunk notes there are exceptions, and that pronominal possessives, such as hers, its, theirs, have no apostrophe.
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. Thus write, red, white, and blue honest, energetic, but headstrong he opened. Anthony trys to enjoy his tropical fish, but the aquarium glass is filthy with algae. Jamess books a platypuss bill the fishs scales the students rights exercise. Here s how the original strunk and white stated the same rule. English department writing guide the university of buckingham. Start studying strunk and whites elements of style punctuation rules. The first writer i watched at work was my stepfather, e. And they learn that the whole notion of possession is rather screwy and illdefined. 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.
Strunk and white subject is a crossword puzzle clue. Choose from 171 different sets of strunk white flashcards on quizlet. Many writers make the mistake of adding just an apostrophe to form the possessive of singular nouns ending in. Thus write, red, white, and blue honest, energetic, but headstrong he opened the letter, read it, and made a note of its contents. It is the case that charless is still grammatically correct, because writing reflects speech and most native speakers still pronounce the s twice. 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 this is the usage of the united states government printing of. Hammurabis code, dickenss last novel, jamess cello. 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.
Why do periods and commas go inside quotation marks in mla. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last. The problem nearly always seems to stem from not understanding that the apostrophe has two very different and very important uses in english. Pdf find, read and cite all the research you need on. But such forms as moses laws, isis temple are com monly replaced by. White, writing in 1959, noted that typographical usage dictates the comma be inside the marks, though logically it. And thats also something strunk and white recommend. Cornell university english professor william strunk jr. William strunks elements of style arbortown properties. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets.
The same logic goes for years instead of writing spandex was popular in the 1980s, use 1980s. 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. What is the general rule for forming the possessive of singular nouns. This brief quiz assesses student understanding of usage rule 1, regarding apostrophes for possession, from strunk and white s the elements of style. 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. 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. This is professor strunk s advice regarding this rule.
May 27, 2019 know how to use apostrophes for acronyms and years. 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. 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. Paige so today, were gonna talk about apostrophes and plurals. 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. Strunk and whites elements of style punctuation rules.
The most important rule of style in strunk and whites elements of style is number, omit needless words. Form the possessive singular of nouns with s follow this rule whatever the. 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. Note that contractions are often considered too informal for academic writing. To show separate ownership, use separate apostrophes. The apostrophe s s causes a great deal of unnecessary trouble. I find strunks description of apostrophe s to be concise and to the point. Contents preface iii i introductory 1 ii elementary rules of usage 3 1. 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.
In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma. We talked about this a little bit in our introduction to the apostrophe video. 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. But just between you and me, you can use this shootfromthehip style in personal email.
As the authors note, strong verbs will make your writing lively and emphatic. 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. But that s what the rule seems to suggest because it s so poorly stated. This style manual offers practical advice on improving wri. Save considerably by purchasing the complete 11rule quiz set, which correlates with strunk and white s primar. Here, strunk introduces readers to the most basic grammar rules.
The most important rule of style in strunk and white s elements of style is number, omit needless words. 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. The apostrophe is used to mark omitted letters in contractions. As strunk and white remind us in the elements of style 4th ed. The only time an apostrophe should be used in a year is if its standing in for omitted numbers. It is one of the most influential and bestknown prescriptive treatments of english grammar and usage in the united states. The land of the free and the elements of style linguistics and. The exception to this is singular nouns which end in the letter s. 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.
The plural form of most sh names is formed by adding s or occasionally es or. The elements of style wikisource, the free online library. Save considerably by purchasing the complete 11rule quiz set, which correlates with strunk and whites primar. Pdf style, usage, grammar, and punctuation ch 4 researchgate. Using an unnecessary apostrophe to form the plural of a noun is a very common mistake. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines.
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. Strunk and white subject is a crossword puzzle clue that we have spotted 7 times. This reader wants to know why we write 1980s and not 1980s. The rule is about apostrophes, but the rule is stated with an extra apostrophe so we are immediately confused. The only practice i detest is using the apostrophe with x, as though x. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after. This public document was automatically mirrored from pdfy. Learn strunk white with free interactive flashcards. We very rarely use the apostrophe to show plurals and only under special. The elements of style by strunk and white introduction. The dogs leashes if the noun ending in s is singular, most sources recommend adding both the apostrophe and an additional s. The style that many of us are accustomed tosimply adding an apostrophe after the s e. In this video, we examine ten principles of good writing, including make the. This placement is traditional in the united states.