... whether you use ’s or
s’ in the plural. It will sort itself out.
The tails ofthe dogs
The dogs’ tails
Who ‘owns’ the tails? the dogs
Put the apostrophe
after the owners. the dogs’
Add -s if there ... is ‘owned’ the dogs’ tails
The laughter ofthe women
The women’s laughter
Who ‘owns’ the laughter? the women
Put the apostrophe
after the owners. the women’
Add -s if there isn’t one. the women’s
Add ... apostrophe
after the owner. the dog’
Add -s. the dog’s
Add what is ‘owned’. the dog’s tail
The smile ofthe princess
The princess’s smile
Who ‘owns’ the smile? the princess
Put the apostrophe
after the owner....
... apostrophe
after the owner. the dog’
Add -s. the dog’s
Add what is ‘owned’. the dog’s tail
The smile ofthe princess
The princess’s smile
Who ‘owns’ the smile? the princess
Put the apostrophe
after the owner. ... show
ownership. Follow these simple
guidelines and you’ll never put the
apostrophe in the wrong place.
Singular nouns or ‘owners’
The tail ofthe dog
The dog’s tail
Who ‘owns’ the tail? the dog
Put the apostrophe
after ... (the British Broadcasting
Corporation)
historical periods (the Renaissance)
(the Neolithic Period)
days ofthe week (Monday)
months ofthe year (September)
but not usually the
seasons.
Note these...
... apostrophe
after the owner. the dog’
Add -s. the dog’s
Add what is ‘owned’. the dog’s tail
The smile ofthe princess
The princess’s smile
Who ‘owns’ the smile? the princess
Put the apostrophe
after the owner. ... whether you use ’s or
s’ in the plural. It will sort itself out.
The tails ofthe dogs
The dogs’ tails
Who ‘owns’ the tails? the dogs
Put the apostrophe
after the owners. the dogs’
Add -s if there ... is ‘owned’ the dogs’ tails
The laughter ofthe women
The women’s laughter
Who ‘owns’ the laughter? the women
Put the apostrophe
after the owners. the women’
Add -s if there isn’t one. the women’s
Add...
... Tom.
Use the superlative form when
comparing three or more:
John is the TALLEST of all the
engineers.
John works THE MOST
ENERGETICALLY of all the
engineers.
(ii) There are two ways of forming the
comparative ... reversed the car into the main
road and my brother??
She reversed the car into the main
road, and my brother waved goodbye.
In the skies above the stars glittered
palely.
In the skies above the stars??
In ... childlike? The teenager was rebuked by the
magistrate for his CHILDISH behaviour.
(i.e. which he should have outgrown)
The grandfather has retained his sense of
CHILDLIKE wonder at the beauty of the
CHILDISH...
... are correct and there is no
difference in meaning. British English
favours the first and American English the
second.
Some writers reserve the first for a
general request for information and the
second ... abbreviation ofthe Latin et
cetera which means ‘and other
things’. It is therefore incorrect to
write ‘and etc.’.
(ii) Avoid using ‘etc.’ in formal writing.
Either list all the items indicated by
the ... Tom (singular))
Either Jack or his brothers were there.
(plural verb to match ‘brothers’
(plural) which is closer to it than
‘Jack’ (singular) )
Either his brothers or Jack was there.
(singular...
... because the foreign plural
of these is used in a different sense from
the English plural. Check these words
under individual entries for the distinction
in meaning.
singular -a foreign plural English ... not-able
and so on!
Note: that the hyphen should be
placed at the end ofthe first line (to
indicate that the word is to be
continued). It is not repeated at the
beginning ofthe next.
HYPERVENTILATE ... flourescent)
fly they flew, have flown, are flying
focus focused or focussed (both correct)
focusing or focussing (both correct)
for- or fore-? A useful rule of thumb is to remember the
usual meaning of the...
... lengthened further, the
close ofthe second pair of inverted
commas would be delayed
accordingly:
‘Indeed it is,’ said my mother. ‘When
will you be able to get to us? Need I
say ‘ the earlier the ... comma (after the
narrative and before the second set of
inverted commas) marks the
resumption ofthe direct speech.
Note that the interrupted sentence of
speech is resumed without the need
for ... syllables)
This noun should correctly be used to
distinguish one person from the rest of a
group or community:
the rights ofthe INDIVIDUAL in society
Informally it is also used in the sense of
‘person’:
an...
... Take care with the punctuation of this
contraction. The apostrophe represents the
omission of four letters:
o’clock = ofthe clock
Do not write: o’Clock, O’Clock or
o,clock.
of or off? These exemplar ... help:
He is the youngest OF four children.
(pronounced ov)
Jump OFF the bus. (rhymes with cough)
Avoid the clumsy construction:
Jump off ofthe bus.
Jump off the bus.
official or officious? OFFICIAL ... drove ON TO test the brakes.
As a matter of interest you can
double-check the ‘separateness’ of the
two words by separating them further:
She drove ON because she wanted TO
test the breaks.
"
Always...
... show how they
connect with other words in the sentence:
They gave the flowers TO their mother.
Let him sit NEAR you.
Two problems can arise with prepositions.
(i) Take care to choose the correct
preposition. ... or
aversion’. REPULSIVE,however,isthe
stronger ofthe two; it has the sense of
causing ‘intense disgust’, even horror in
some circumstances.
REPELLENT can also be used in the
sense of being able to repel ... topic.
Sometimes the paragraph will begin with
this sentence (called a topic sentence) and
the rest ofthe paragraph will elaborate or
illustrate the point made. Sometimes the
topic sentence occurs during the
paragraph....
... dog; THEIRS has a white
patch on his forehead.
theirselves Incorrect formation. See
THEMSELVES
.
themselves They blame THEMSELVES for the crash.
They THEMSELVES were there.
there See
THEIR, THERE ... See
THEIR, THERE OR THEY’RE?
.
there is/there are See
SINGULAR OR PLURAL? (iii).
thesis (singular) theses (plural)
See
FOREIGN PLURALS
.
they’re See
THEIR, THERE OR THEY’RE?
.
THEY’RE
171
stimulus ... (i) and (ii
).)
shoe These are the tricky tenses ofthe verb ‘to
shoe’:
The blacksmith SHOES the horse.
He is SHOEING the horse now.
He SHOD the horse last week.
He has SHOD the horse regularly.
should...
... (I, he,
she, we or they), then you need ‘who’
at the beginning ofthe question:
Who/whom is there?
The answer could be: I am there.
WHO is there?
WHO OR WHOM?
181
"
Read the amended text ... the speed of
abirdinflight)
"
Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care. (Shakespeare:
‘Macbeth’)
187
If the answer could be one of the
object pronouns (me, him, her, us or
them), then ... RULE
.
yoghurt/youghourt/ All these spellings are correct.
yougurt
yoke or yolk? Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
The YOKE ofthe christening gown was
beautifully embroidered.
The oxen were YOKED together.
She...
... think the researcher wants to read rather than their real
feelings. Moreover, the number ofthe subjects is small which may influence the
implications ofthe thesis to some extent. The results of ... review
To provide a theoretical background to the study, this chapter is devoted to the
reexamination ofthe concepts most relevant to the thesis’s topic. Firstly, an account ofthe
CLT theory is made. ... successful, there
should be a desire for the communication to be effective both from the point of view of
speakers and listeners. In most ofthe processes of communication, the roles of speakers...
... for
teaching, the main difficulties they met are the lack of basic knowledge and new terms.
Moreover, the main reason they got bad marks are that most of them did not learn EEE
until the test. Based on the ... The objective of this report was to investigate the
advantages and disadvantages of learning EEE as well as the main reason why they did not
get good mark in the final test. Techniques of gathering ... about the situation of learning EEE of d06, k52 students in FOFL; HUT has not
yet been done. Therefore, the objectives of this research is to consider the advantages and
disadvantages they meet...