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General

Outlines

Sentence Style
Apostrophe
BE Verbs
Capital Letters
Colons
Comma Rules
Nominalization
Parallelism
Passive Sentense
Pronoun Agreement
Revision Symbols
Semicolons
Splice/Fragment
Sentence Types
Subject-Verb Agreement
Transition Words
Wordiness

Formatting

Citing Sources

1. To show possession:
   
   [singular]
   1. The individual's rights are protected . . . (his/her)
      The rights of the individual . . .
   2. I stepped on the cat's tail.
   3. She earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry.
   4. New York city's problems. . . .
   5. Michelson and Morley's experiment on the velocity of light. . . .
   6. The difference between Tom's and Mary's test scores is small.
   7. The actress's hair (also actress'). . . . (her hair)
      The Jones's house (also Jones') . . . .
      The boss's desk. . . .

   [plural]

   1. The individuals' rights . . . . (their)
      The rights of the individuals
   2. I stepped on the cats' tails. (their tails)
   3. Big cities' problems. . . .
      d. The actresses' hair. . . . (their hair)
      The bosses' desks. . . . (their desks)

   Note: Possessive pronouns never appear with an apostrophe:
   my/mine, your/yours, his, hers, its, ours, whose, theirs
    

2. To show contractions (omission):
   1. I can't go. = I cannot go.
   2. It's a nice day. = It is a nice day.
      
      Remember: Who's = who is

   Note: Do not use an apostrophe for the plural of abbreviations or dates.

   1. the 1960s
   2. two CPUs
   3. three RNs
   4. several Ph.D.s1
       

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University of Idaho
Environmental Science Program
Advanced Technical Writing