SJC-style-and-production-guide-2012

Almost all singular words ending in s need another s as well as the apostrophe to formthe possessive – the princess’s dress, Charles’s books, - but you should follow the sound. If aspeaker repeats the s, so in print. If not, don’t. When a word ends in a sibilant letter that is silent,the possessive is formed with ‘s: Malraux’s plays, the grand prix’s manager, although a betterconstruction would be The manager of the grand prix.The apostrophe is used, for clarity, in one week’s notice and a year’s jail. It isn’t necessaryin two weeks notice and two years jail. It is not used in contractions in common usage: quake,flu, cello, phone, plane, bus. It is not in 100s, 1000s, in his 20s, the 1990s (but the ’90s) MPs,MLAs and industrial union names (the Federated Clerks Union), unless they end in –men’s or– women’s, in which case keep the apostrophe. Keep it in the informal name: the journalists’union, the clerks’ union.Do not use apostrophes when a word could be an adjective. For instance, it is Melbournecitizens, not Melbourne’s citizens; it is the Premiers Conference, not the Premiers’ Conference.And watch simple plurals. Certainly write the dog’s tail and the dogs’ tails, but not “the dog’swagged their tail’s”!Follow the ruling of the Geographical Names Board and drop apostrophes from place names.So Wilsons Promontory, Kings Cross, St Andrews, Badgerys Creek, Halls Creek and so on.COLONSColons are used as a mark of introduction to a word, phrase, sentence, passage, list and so on.Fowler says the colon is used “to deliver the goods that have been invoiced in the precedingwords”.The first word after a colon is not capped if what follows is not a complete sentence: Ivan theTerrible had positive characteristics: generosity, warmth, tolerance. But: This is what a historianmight say: Even Ivan the Terrible was misunderstood. Where possible, this rule should apply inheads.Do not use the colon as an attributive mark in heads when the attribution follows themessage. Do not write Opposition wrong: PM. Instead, say Opposition wrong – PM, or PM:Opposition wrong.COMMASCommas are perhaps the most misused of common marks, often put in where they shouldn’t beor left out where they should be. Some writers think if a sentence is long it must have a comma,so put in meaningless ones: Assistant Commissioner (operations), Mr Joe Plod, said today, thatif the police were still on strike on Wednesday, he would ask the Industrial Relations Commissionto sever their union, the Police Association, from the hearing of the police award case. The onlynecessary commas there are those around the name of the union.Do not use a comma before and in a series unless there is a likelihood of ambiguity: Cars,buses and trains were stalled. But: Many of the plays of that time were written by Shakespeare,Marlowe, Beaumont and Fletcher, and Ford.Use commas to set off a non-restrictive clause: The house, which was 100 years old, wasstill in good condition. Do not use the comma after an identifying noun used in the restrictivesense: The painter van Gogh had a hard struggle. The absence of commas in His brother Georgewas best man means the bridegroom has more than one brother. Commas around George meanhe is the only brother. (Be careful not to imply bigamy: The Prime Minister’s wife Mary willUQ SJC STYLEBOOK 2012 – PAGE 14