tailieunhanh - Essential guide to writing part 28

Obviously, there are limits: one can¬not learn to write like Shakespeare or Charles Dickens. You can't become a genius by reading a book. But you don't have to be a genius to write clear, effective English. You just have to understand what writing involves and to know how to handle words and sentences and para-graphs. | For more material and information please visit 420 PUNCTUATION course the letters . Contractions are common in speech and are permissible in informal writing though they should be avoided in a formal style. They are most likely with auxiliary verbs and negative words and in all cases an apostrophe should be placed in the position of the deleted sound or letter He ll go. He will go. We would ve gone. We would have gone. They won t go. They will not go. Notice that in the last example several sounds have been dropped but only one apostrophe is used. The contracted form of the auxiliary have incidentally sounds exactly like the unstressed of. Because of this confusion such constructions as could of gone are sometimes seen. That is not in accordance with formal usage and should be avoided. The proper form is could ve gone. t The Apostrophe to Mark Elision Elision is dropping a sound from a word. This often occurs in rapid speech gow for going and was sometimes done in older poetry e en for even ne er for never though rarely in modern verse. An apostrophe signals when a sound is elided. Elision is rarely necessary in composition. The Apostrophe with the Plural Forms of Letters When letters and numerals are used in the plural they generally simply add -s Learn your ABCs. The 1960s were a period of great change. There are however three exceptions 1 capital letters in abbreviations with periods 2 capital letters that might look For more material and information please visit THE OTHER MARKS 421 confusing with a simple -s plural and 3 lowercase letters used as nouns The university graduated twenty . s. He makes his A s in an unusual way. Mind your p s and q s. The Quotation Mark Quotation marks are used with 1 direct quotations 2 certain titles and 3 words given a special sense. Quote marks have two forms double . and single . . Most American writers prefer double quotes switching to single should they need to mark a quote within