house’, ‘the Albert-Rosses’ gluttony’. Simply construct the plural (see plurals) <strong>and</strong> add theapostrophe. Other tricky apostrophes are when they refer to two nouns: ‘Chris <strong>and</strong> Dinah’shouse’ because they share the one dwelling, but ‘Chris’s <strong>and</strong> Dinah’s reputations’ because theyare individual. The apostrophe is often omitted from the names of organisations: AustralianJournalists Association, Queensl<strong>and</strong> Teachers Credit Union. It may also be omitted in thenames of some institutions (Brisbane Girls Grammar School) but not others (Brisbane Boys’Grammar). These should always be checked.Place names in Australia no longer carry apostrophes. Do not use an apostrophe in such placenames as Slacks Creek, Browns Plains, Dohles Rocks, Flinders View, Moores Pocket, QueensBeach.Contractions of verbs are signified by an apostrophe: I’ll (I will), won’t (will not), they’re(they are), didn’t (did not), can’t (cannot), let’s (let us), it’s (it is) <strong>and</strong> so on. It is not normallyprint <strong>style</strong> to use such contractions unless in direct speech. Contractions of nouns usually nolonger carry the apostrophe: phone, flu, plane, bus, burger.Contractions must not be confused with possessive pronouns that are already possessive <strong>and</strong>require no apostrophe. The possessive pronouns include whose, his, hers, their, theirs, our,ours, your, yours <strong>and</strong> its. Do not confuse the possessive pronoun ‘its’ with the contraction‘it’s’. An easy way to remember is to note that the apostrophe st<strong>and</strong>s for the missing ‘i’.Similarly, watch the confusion between contraction <strong>and</strong> possessive in ‘who’. ‘Who’s’ is thecontraction of ‘who is’ but ‘whose’ is the possessive of ‘who’.appeal against a decision. We do not appeal a decision. Similarly we protest against governmentpolicy.appraise is to assess the size or value of something. Often confused with apprise meaning toinform. But apprise should not be used in news writing.appropriate is an overused word. Use with care. If a news source says ‘I don’t think it’sappropriate that…’ the first question the reporter should ask is ‘why?’. If there is a logicalrationale, fine. Use it. If not don’t use it, because the word appropriate is merely st<strong>and</strong>ing infor ‘I don’t approve’, or ‘I don’t like’.around/round use ‘around’ as the preposition: ‘around the corner’, ‘around here’. Use ‘round’as the adjective, verb or noun: ‘a round dozen’, ‘to round the Horn’, ‘a round of meetings’.as regards Avoid this construction. Instead of ‘as regards the meeting between the politician<strong>and</strong> journalist not happening’ Simply say ‘the reason the politician <strong>and</strong> journalist did not meet…’(See also ‘in order to’/ ‘in relation to’/ ‘in respect of’ )asylum seekers are people without travel documents seeking protection in a foreign country.They achieve refugee status when they are allowed to stay. Under international law anybodycan apply for asylum. Consequently, it is meaningless to speak of illegal asylum seekers,queue jumpers, <strong>and</strong> so on. By far the minority of asylum seekers in Australia arrive by boat.It makes sense to speak of ‘illegal immigrants’ who are people arriving in Australia withoutvisas who are not seeking asylum, or people who have overstayed visas.at this point in time do not use this hackneyed phrase, when you mean now or then.attorney Not used to mean lawyer in Australia. Attorney-General is Australia’s governmentminister responsible for legal issues. Plural is attorneys-general.attribution statements <strong>and</strong> comments must be attributed to the person who made them. Factsmust be attributed to their source, unless they are absolutely a matter of common knowledge,for example, that the earth revolves around the sun.UQ <strong>SJC</strong> STYLEBOOK <strong>2012</strong> – PAGE 26
See also comma, direct speech, indirect speech.author ungendered title for men <strong>and</strong> women. Don’t use authoress. Also wrongly used as a verb.Books are written, not authored.avatar Originally Hindu to describe the descent of a divine being to earth; in social networkingit has come to mean the persona or representation adopted by participants in chat rooms orgames.Ayers Rock preferable to use the indigenous name Uluru, which has been the practice since itwas h<strong>and</strong>ed back to Indigenous people in the 1980s.PAGE 27 – <strong>2012</strong>UQ <strong>SJC</strong> STYLEBOOK
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