7 Rules of English Usage by William Strunk Jr.
These rules have been excerpted from the book Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. which is in the public domain licensed under Project Gutenberg and it is rightful to re-use it, copy it or give it away. 1. Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding '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 possessive 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. Thu…
