How to Speak and Write Correctly by Joseph Devlin
page 71 of 188 (37%)
page 71 of 188 (37%)
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(2) When a quotation is embraced within another, the contained quotation has only single marks: Franklin said, "Most men come to believe 'honesty is the best policy.'" (3) When a quotation consists of several paragraphs the quotation marks should precede each paragraph. (4) Titles of books, pictures and newspapers when formally given are quoted. (5) Often the names of ships are quoted though there is no occasion for it. The _Apostrophe_ should come under the comma rather than under the quotation marks or double comma. The word is Greek and signifies a turning away from. The letter elided or turned away is generally an _e_. In poetry and familiar dialogue the apostrophe marks the elision of a syllable, as "I've for I have"; "Thou'rt for thou art"; "you'll for you will," etc. Sometimes it is necessary to abbreviate a word by leaving out several letters. In such case the apostrophe takes the place of the omitted letters as "cont'd for continued." The apostrophe is used to denote the elision of the century in dates, where the century is understood or to save the repetition of a series of figures, as "The Spirit of '76"; "I served in the army during the years 1895, '96, '97, '98 and '99." The principal use of the apostrophe is to denote the possessive case. All nouns in the singular number whether proper names or not, and all nouns in the plural ending with any other letter than _s_, form the possessive by the addition of the apostrophe and the letter _s_. The only exceptions to this rule are, that, by poetical license the additional _s_ may be elided in poetry for sake of |
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