Bull's Eye Business Writing Tips

Tip #411:  Possessive of a singular noun... 

These FREE weekly business writing tips
will help you improve your business writing.

Tip #411:  To form the possessive of a singular noun that ends in as “s” sound, be guided by the way you pronounce the word.

  1. If a new syllable is formed in the pronunciation of the possessive, add an apostrophe plus “s.”

Example:  your boss’s approval; Mr. Morris’s tickets; Ms. Lopez’s application

  1. If the addition of an extra syllable would make a word ending in an “s” hard to pronounce, add the apostrophe only.

Example:  Mrs. Phillips’ request; Los Angeles’ freeways; New Orleans’ stadium

Weekly Exercise:

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This week’s quiz:

Which is the correct use of a singular possessive noun?

  1. Achilles’ heel or Achilles’s heel
  2. Moses’ flight or Moses’s flight
  3. Dallas’s business district or Dallas’ business district
  4. Phoenix’s suburbs or Phoenix’ suburbs

Quote of the week:

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.  
(Sir Winston Churchill)

Answers to this week's quiz:

  1. Achilles’ heel
  2. Moses’ flight
  3. Dallas’s business district
  4. Phoenix’s suburbs

To send the above exercise answers to Gloria for her comments and review,  copy the questions,  paste  them into an email, answer them,  and send to Marsha@basic-learning.com.

 

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By Gloria Pincu, M.A. , President of Basic Learning Systems, Inc.
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Here are some books on business writing that I recommend.

Bull's Eye Business Writing is also available from Amazon.com.
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, author, Lynne Truss The Everything Resume Book by Steven Graber
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction , by William Knowlton Zinsser  The Gregg Reference Manual, by William A. Sabin 
The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, White, E. B. White  How to Take the Fog Out of Business Writing, by Robert Gunning, Richard A. Kallan (Contributor) 

More books on business writing and other business subjects  (available from Amazon.com). 

Contact Gloria Pincu at Basic Learning Systems, Inc.

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