The dictionary owned by the grammar whi z the grammar whizs dictionary. I went to the editorinchiefs house for dinner last night. If you force yourself to believe this, it will make you think twice before using or omitting an apostropheand before you know it, these simple rules will become engrained in. However, i cannot give the blue book of grammar and punctuation five stars because some of her rules are almost antiquated and apply to nearly nonexistent structures. Grammar rules the blue book of grammar and punctuation. Constitution but constitutional, the electoral college, department of.
Apostrophes punctuation rules blue book of grammar. Use an apostrophe to indicate possession with nouns a noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. Apostrophes have two main purposes, to form possessives and to mark contractions. When the last comma in a series comes before and or or after daughterinlaw in theabove example, it is known as the oxford comma. Havent you noticed the importance of the apostrophes in the english language.
Feb 27, 2015 everything you need to know about this little mark. The humble apostrophe has multiple missions, which may be why the poor thing suffers such frequent misuse. The apostrophe with numbers, letters, and abbreviations. This book contains many useful, short explanations of grammar and style as well as exercises.
The blue book of grammar and punctuation by jane straus the authority on english grammar. You can also consult grammar girl or a good grammar book, like grammatically correct, by anne stilman, which were my sources for this post. My instinct says no apostrophe, because nothing has been removed. Our hero, the apostrophe, is super tough and super organized, too. Since the placement of an apostrophe can change the very meaning of a word, the apostrophe uses a specific set of rules that he diligently follows down to the letter. The apostrophe is used to indicate that a letter or letters hashave been removed.
If its a coed team, you could write girlsandboys team. For each of the following, choose the correct sentence. Richard nordquist is professor emeritus of rhetoric and english at georgia southern university and the author of several universitylevel grammar and composition textbooks. Unless you are showing possession or a contraction an apostrophe should not be used. A third use, the pluralisation of words and letters in such expressions as mind your ps and qs, is controversial. Again, ap style is farmers market without an apostrophe. In a contraction, an apostrophe represents missing letters. Everything you need to know about this little mark. But this is a perfect example of being smart in one area sign making but not necessarily in another grammar. It was common in the masculine and neuter genitive cases, the kings book,for example, to add an es at the end of the noun to show possession. Jan 11, 2018 147 words to use instead of very infographic the visual guide to english prepositions part 12 infographic affect vs. Lesson 15, homework 1 ask questions using the following words. My guess is that some may dislike putting the s right after tv, because they somehow do not yet regard an abbreviation as a proper noun. If the noun is singular, such as girl or dog, put an apostrophe after the last letter and add an s dogs balleven if the singular noun ends in s jamess car.
If you want to teach or learn grammar the easy way, follow our stepbystep program that clearly lays everything out and allows you to. If the plural noun ends in s, only add the apostrophe the girls toys. In english there is one form of punctuation that causes a lot of problems. The blue book of grammar and punctuation jane straus. Some people thought it was a mark of elision, so the kings book was a shortening of the king his book. Poking at the sloppy grammar of modern day, presenting himself as an obsessive stickler, this book amuses. Using an unnecessary apostrophe to form the plural of a noun is a very common mistake. Since the 1980s, the thomases, both of whom have multiple phds, have sold old books. It forms possessives, contractions, and, in special cases, plurals. Instead, it is a literary device that helps the writer accomplish a goal. Punctuation is not grammar and doesnt follow grammatical rules. The simplest and most likely solution is to omit all apostrophes which dont convey any information, or questions like this wouldnt be asked and rely on syntax to distinguish the girls teams, and the boys teams, from the girls and boys team. Presentation powerpoint file 69 kb product description. Home grammar punctuation words style faq useful links contact.
The blue book of grammar and punctuation leans towards usage rules in cms along with other authoritative texts and does not attempt to conform to the ap. For clarity, most writers use apostrophes with single capital letters and singledigit numbers. Just fyi, i learned in school in the us, mideighties that one should use an apostrophe when pluralizing decades or letters, and its the method i continue to use now. How to use the apostrophe english language help desk. With very few exceptions, apostrophes do not make nouns plural. Properly using the apostrophe will make your writing easier to understand. A contraction is a shortened form of a word or group of words that omits certain letters or sounds. Most newspapers and magazines drop theoxford comma in a simple series, apparently feeling its unnecessary. Apostrophes are not used to show normal plural forms. Zissman, however, took the third option, of having no apostrophe at all, and her followers went bonkers. Possession johns car, a friend of mine english grammar today a reference to written and spoken english grammar and usage cambridge dictionary.
Please, dont forget to use the grammar rules after you leave the classroom and go for a walk. The apostrophe is a marker for the genitive, and hence tvs are getting better is simply wrong. If you wish to respond to another readers question. However, the use of apostrophes in place names is controversial. It isnt the quantity of the noun singularplural that determines the placement of the apostrophe when forming the possessive. How does adding an apostrophe show that the family has more members. The apostrophe is seldom used to form a plural noun. There are conflicting policies and theories about how to show possession when.
Jul 20, 2017 use an apostrophe to indicate possession. In 1965, she bought a steak house in new orleans called chris steak house, and she ran the restaurant for many years, turning it into a huge local success, according to the website. The plurals for capital letters and numbers above nine do not require apostrophes, but some use them anyway. There really was a ruth, and her name was ruth fertel. Sometimes, its called the grocers apostrophe because of how frequently it is spotted in grocery store advertisements 3 oranges for a dollar. A singular noun forms the possessive possessives show whose something is. Interestingly, the word apostrophe comes from a greek term meaning turning away. Use the possessive case in front of a gerund ing word. Jun 01, 2016 please, dont forget to use the grammar rules after you leave the classroom and go for a walk. The blue book of grammar and punctuation is filled with easytounderstand rules, realworld examples, dozens of reproducible exercises, and pre and posttests. If the word doesnt end in s, add an apostrophe followed by s to form the possessive.
I went to the editorinchief house for dinner last night. Laying aside the issue of whether this is breaking any rules of grammar or punctuation, we can note. How to use those tricky apostrophes diary of a word nerd. Well go over all three, and ill give you examples of each one. Use the apostrophe with the last name only for joint ownership. I created a summary powerpoint focused on apostrophes. Jul 24, 2016 interestingly, the word apostrophe comes from a greek term meaning turning away. This handy workbook is ideal for teachers, students in middle school through college, esl students, homeschoolers, and professionals. Correct usage of apostrophes is an easy way to prevent a loss of points on your papers. Add an apostrophe and an s to the last word of a compound noun to form the possessive. Grammar checkers do not always highlight this mistake, as they do not know the meaning of the sentence.
To be consistent within a sentence, you would also use the apostrophe to indicate the plural of 6s. The most common apostrophe catastrophe is probably the confusion between its a possessive. The apostrophe is used to show 1 possessives of nouns and some pronouns, 2 contractions, and 3 some plurals. Everything you want to know about poetic apostrophe. Warriners the old green grammar book says to use the apostrophe.
Jan 01, 1997 the blue book of grammar and punctuation is filled with easytounderstand rules, realworld examples, dozens of reproducible exercises, and pre and posttests. To show possession with a singular noun, add an apostrophe plus the letter s. If the word already ends in s, simply add an apostrophe to form the possessive. Apostrophes quiz 1 the blue book of grammar and punctuation. Nov 04, 2010 the punctuation mark is called apostrophe. Care must be taken to place the apostrophe outside the word in question. Some people think that what the apostrophe is doing is going back to our old english roots. Author of the original blue book of grammar and punctuation. Oct 16, 2015 annes is a genitive usage and deserves the apostrophe. In addition to being a punctuation mark, an apostrophe is a figure of speech in which some absent or nonexistent person or thing is addressed as if present and capable. In english grammar, a contraction is when we join two words and leave out some letters. This is much too late to help, but since your blog comes up fairly high on googling for apostrophe abuse, here goes.
In february 2014, a new edition of the blue book of grammar and punctuation will be issued. Add an apostrophe and an s to show the possessive case of most singular and plural nouns. Members home the blue book of grammar and punctuation. Apostrophes with words ending in s grammar and punctuation. Contractions are shortened forms of combined words. An apostrophe is a mark of punctuation used to identify a noun in the possessive case or indicate the omission of one or more letters from a word. The ap typically recommend leaving out the apostrophe whenever the phrase is descriptive rather than showing possession. Girls or girls would indicate possession, as if the girls literally owned the team. When the noun is plural, but doesnt end in an s, use normal apostrophes. Annes is a genitive usage and deserves the apostrophe. Apostrophes are only little, like commas in the air, but they influence the sound of a word and are an important part of written english. A portion of rule 1, apostrophes, will state, many common nouns end in the letter s lens, cactus, bus, etc.
Use an apostrophe with each name to show separate ownership. Apostrophes with names ending in s, ch, or z grammar and. The teacher lets students sneak out of class when their work is done. The same word, minus the apostrophe, means something entirely different.
The second use of apostrophes is to indicate possession. William pinnock, a comprehensive grammar of the english language, london 1830 when two or more genitive or possessive cases are united by the conjunction and, the last only receives the apostrophe. Apostrophes the blue book of grammar and punctuation. On the other hand, i can see that you would say the 90s. So, in poetry, an apostrophe is not a punctuation mark. When we smoosh the words together, we leave out some of the original letters, and we use apostrophes to show where the letters are taken out. Jan 16, 2010 you need to use the apostrophe to indicate the plural of zero or it will look like the word os. Perfect for business professionals, professors, teachers, students, and home schooling families, the blue book of grammar and punctuation is used in hundreds of universities, high schools, middle schools and corporations through the united states as well as in developing nations. Hence, the apostrophe, i guess, in these cases is not meant to act as a genitive marker.
The salvation armys headquarters are located down the street. I hope that youll never make these ten apostrophe mistakes. The ap style manual makes the same recommendation if the noun is a common noun or a proper noun. As you can imagine, keeping track of three powers is a lot of hard work, but dont worry. The blue book of grammar and punctuation 9th edition. Do you have any questions regarding plurals, possessives, or plural possessives. Dec 29, 2016 so it seems reasonable to conclude that you dont use an apostrophe because the word farmers is there to identify the type of market. The ralston valley mustangs are located in colorado. An apostrophe and the letter s are used to show possession. Add an apostrophe after the s if the noun is plural and ends in s, and do not add another s girls ribbons. You need to use the apostrophe to indicate the plural of zero or it will look like the word os. The ultimate flowchart to using apostrophes infographic. This userfriendly resource includes simple explanations of grammar, punctuation, and usage.
The blue book of grammar and punctuation is a concise, entertaining workbook and guide to english grammar, punctuation, and usage. Apostrophes for dummies skebes grammar rules for dummies. The blue book of grammar and punctuation 10th tenth edition. The apostrophe the apostrophe has two legitimate uses. When the noun ends in an s, put the apostrophe after the s. The blue book of grammar and punctuation 11th edition. His book also contains actual grammar advice to aid writing examples of when and when not to use fucking apostrophes etc. Most genitives are formed with s the term genitive includes a larger range of relationships than possessiveownership my dog, temporary possession his cookie, a natural trait his tail, a family relationship his mom, origin his city, performer of an action his arrival, and. Sometimes, we leave the letters off the end of a word or the beginning, so we use an apostrophe there, as well. For example, the associated press ap stylebook is a guide specific for news media and journalists while the chicago manual of style cms is used by many book publishers and writers. The blue book of grammar and punctuation 10th tenth. As we wrote in a post last year, postal authorities and governmental agencies commonly eliminate apostrophes in place names and street names as a matter of policy. To use the apostrophe to show possession, follow these guidelines. Revise the rules, and check the grammar before copying the correct answers.
Its arbitrary, and especially in the case of apostrophes, chaotic. An indispensable tool for busy professionals, teachers, students, homeschool families, editors, writers, and proofreaders. Grammar and punctuation the blue book of grammar and. Most genitives are formed with s the term genitive includes a larger range of relationships than possessiveownership my dog, temporary possession his cookie, a natural trait his tail, a family relationship his mom, origin his city, performer of an action his arrival, and more.
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