The Elements of Style

The Elements of Style
William Strunk, Jr. (18691946). The Elements of Style. 1918.

II. ELEMENTARY RULES OF USAGE 1. Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's. Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write, Charles's friend Burns's poems the witch's malice This is the usage of the United States Government Printing Office and of the Oxford University Press. 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. But such forms as Achilles' heel, Moses' laws, Isis' temple are commonly replaced by the heel of Achilles the laws of Moses the temple of Isis The pronominal possessives hers, its, theirs, yours, and oneself have no apostrophe. 2. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last. 3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas. 4. Place a comma before and or but introducing an independent clause.

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