POSSESSIVES AND APOSTROPHES

Nouns in the singular, or in the plural when ending with any letter other than "s," require an apostrophe and "s," as man's, men's, child's, children's, Dennis's, Felix's, Burns's, Essex's, Moses's, witness's, countess's, state's attorney, state's evidence, etc.

Exceptions to the foregoing: Sergeant at arms' room, for righteousness' sake, for conscience sake, for goodness' sake, for Jesus' sake. In titles of books the exact form should be used, as Hinds' Precedents.

Plural nouns ending in "s" require only the apostrophe, as the boys' swimming hole, the horses' trough, fingers' ends, the Charleses' reigns, the Joneses' ball, the countesses' reception, the witnesses' testimony.

Do not use the possessive form in such expressions as day labor, quartermaster stores, state prison, the doctrine of state rights, justice courts.

Use the singular form for such expressions as printer's ink, 125 miner's inches.

TERMINATION OF WORDS, ETC.

Authors often are confused as to the correct termination of words ending in "ible" or "able." The following list, giving the words terminating in "ible," will be found useful; other words of this class terminate with "able.” (Hyphens in the following lists of words indicate the proper divisions thereof).

TERMINATION OF WORDS, ETC.-Continued TERMINATION OF WORDS, ETC.-Continued

Words ending with the sound of "ize" are variously spelled "ise" or "ize." Of this class, the correct spelling of the following words is "ise." Nearly all others take "ize."

Errors are often found in the plurals of nouns ending in "o." To prevent error, observe the following general rule: If there is a consonant before the final "o," the plural is "es"; but if a vowel precedes the "o," the plural is formed by adding "s" only. There are,

however, some exceptions to this rule, as follows:

Many persons find it difficult or impossible to recollect the relative position of "e" and "i" in such words as "receive," "believe," etc. If they will bear in mind the following rule, it ma may save them the trouble of referring to a dictionary to determine this point:

When the derivative noun ends in "tion," the verb is spelled with "ei," thus:

conception-conceive, deception-deceive, reception-receive.

But when the noun does not end in "tion," the verb is spelled with "ie," as: Belief-believe.

The following rule for using "ei" and "ie" will be found convenient: Bear in mind the word "lice"-"i" follows "1" and "e" follows "c," thus li-ce.

Only three words of our language end in "ceed" (exceed, proceed and succeed), and one only ends in "sede" (supersede). Therefore "cede" always follows the syllables "pre," "inter," "con," "se," "ac," "ante," "re" and "retro." In adding the suffix "ity" to words of more than one syllable, only one word has a double "1" (tranquillity).

ABBREVIATIONS

Clock Time-When immediately connected with figures, use a. m., m., and p. m.

Compass Directions, Degrees, Latitudes, etc.-In legislative work spell out compass directions, and do not capitalize east, west, north, south, southeast, etc. Spell out degrees: 75 degrees. Spell out latitude and longitude. In plats of territory spell out township, range, etc. Example: southeast quarter township 1, range 2 east.

FIGURES

Specific rules that will govern in all cases as to what should be expressed in figures and what should be spelled can not be given. General rules, which will serve as a guide, follow:

Spell all amounts under 10, except enumerations of weight, measure, distance, clock time, money, percentage, degrees, notes, proportion, stocks and bonds, and age; but use figures in groups of enumerations when any one enumeration is 10 or more. Treat alike all numbers in connected groups. Duration of time should be in figures, subject to the provision governing amounts above or below 10 or occurring in groups.

In bills, resolutions and amendments to the same all amounts dealing with money or percentages of money must be expressed in words and figures. Thus: One thousand dollars ($1000). In all other cases figures only shall be used.

To avoid confusion when two numbers occur together, as "10 12-room houses," "12 6-inch guns," etc., observe the following forms in treatment of qualifying numbers: "Ten 12-room houses," "twelve 6-inch guns," etc.

Spell figures beginning a sentence or immediately following a colon, except in tables, or when ordinal numbers occur at the beginning of paragraphs or sentences in certain cases.

Ordinal numbers: 1. The earth is round. (2) "The sun do move." But when copy reads "1st," etc., spell: First, The moon is not green cheese.

Spell both numbers of two related amounts at the beginning of a sentence in such expressions as "Twenty to tweny-five horses," "Fifty or sixty persons were present," etc.

Numbers greater than 1,000, when spelled, should be expressed thus: One thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars, not eighteen hundred and fifty dollars; one thousand two hundred tons, not twelve hundred tons.

Serial numbers, including years, in which the comma is omitted, when spelled, should be expressed as twelve hundred and six, etc. Spell numbers mentioned by way of illustration or in connection with serious and dignified subjects, as follows:

In nine hundred and ninety-nine cases out of every thousand.
The Twelve Apostles.

The Seven Sages of Greece.

The thirteen original states.

But, proportion of 1 to 4; 1:62,500.

Age-My age is 52 years and 6 months; a boy 6 years old; a boy about 6 years old; 3-year-old colt; 3-months-old child; wine 8 years old; wine 4 or 5 years old.

Clock Time-Use colon to separate hours and minutes, as 4:30 p. m.; 4 o'clock and 30 minutes p. m.; half past 4.

Dates-June 29, A. D. 1882; December 6, 1846 (not December 6th, 1846); the first of January, 1883; June 12; the first instant; the twentieth day of March (not the 20th day of March); the first (day) of the month; the last of April or the first of May; fourth of July (calendar day); Fourth of July (holiday).

Spell such expressions as "the early seventies," "it occurred in the eighties."

Decimals-Use figures for decimals, 25; 20 ounces of silver, .900 fine; it costs $0.3365 per pound; scrap, at .75 cent per pound; referring to the caliber of small arms, .30 caliber, .45-caliber Springfield rifle, distinguishing, however, when used to describe the length of a gun, as a 6-inch rapid-fire rifle, 50 calibers.

Degrees-Spell out the word "degrees" in legislative work whenever possible, thus: Longitude 77 degrees, etc.

Dimensions-Use the form 8 by 12 inches in text, not 8x12 inches

nor 8x12".

Distances-Express in figures, as 50 miles, 17 yards, 8 leagues, 9 centimeters, 5 feet 6 inches, about 10 miles; but when a fraction of a mile is given spell, as one-half mile.

Weights and Measures-Use figures for all enumerations of weights and measures: 40 bushels, 1 gallon, 10 pounds, 6 acres.

Enumerations-In such examples as the following use figures unless under 10, but all the enumerations should be in figures in a group where any one enumeration is 10 or more: There were 20 males and 25 females, 45 in all; six horses; 10 horses; 6 horses, 5 cows and 2 head of sheep; 25 bulletins, containing 352 pages; the population of Chicago is more than 2,000,000; a hamlet of 18 persons; a 6-footer. When complicated spell, as twenty-five 6-inch guns, two 1/4-inch boards, five 5-cent pieces, seven 8-hour days, etc. Spell such expressions as the following: Between two and three hundred horses, forty-odd people, one hundred and odd men (not 100 odd men); the population is forty or fifty thousand.