Punctuation: Apostrophes and Full Stops Louise Livesey Academic Skills Adviser This workshop will −Refresh your understanding of apostrophes and full stops −Provide tips for the appropriate use of apostrophes and full stops −Provide practice and follow-on activities for you to be able continue to improve your use of punctuation

1.The jobs apostrophes do 2.Contractions 3.‘Its/it’s’ and ‘there/they’re/their’ 4.Where to place apostrophes with plural nouns 5.Apostrophes and numbers 6.Acronyms, initialisms and apostrophes 7.Full stops Today’s Plan

1.The Apostrophe Substitution Possession

Clear slide for writing on 1.The Apostrophe

Shortened words using an apostrophe Don’tDo not Wasn’tWas not Can’tCannot It’s It is Not in academic work except… Quotations Acronyms and initialisms 2.Contractions

Its and it’s Use expansion: does it is make sense? 3.Its/it’s and there/they’re/their Their/there/they’re Space and time: there Expansion: they’re Elimination: their

Possession/substitution The cat’s collar is red The cats’ collars are red For plurals, no second ‘s’ after the apostrophe 4.Where to place apostrophes with plural nouns

Adding apostrophes Decades: the 1980s (there is not substitution and no possession) Any other number: in his 40s (there is no substitution and no possession) For plurals: Levi 501s (there is no substitution and no possession) 5.Apostrophes and numbers

Words/terms made up of capital letters: NATO and WWF Generally no full stops in between letters Apostrophes do not act as substitutes, full stops do Treat an acronym/initialism like a word 6.Acronyms, initialisms and apostrophes

Full stops and quotes Full stops outside quotation marks Question and exclamation marks inside quotation marks If citation, full stop outside bracket 7.Full stops

Full stops and abbreviations 7.Full stops Shortenings: full stop if created for writing Do not need another full stop at end of sentence if sentence finishes with an abbreviation with a full stop Contractions: letters from middle of word Initialisms: terms from initial letters Acronyms: words from initial letters

Question: who can you go to in the university for proof-reading, assignment checking or assisted editing? Proofreading Nobody

References Clip Art – basketball Elma, J. (2007) Apostrophes don’t swing both ways. I Love Typhography. [online] Available at: [Accessed ]Apostrophes don’t swing both ways Hanesi: B. (2013). In Turkish, the apostrophe (') and Punctuation Grammar Lecture. Turkey: Bilgi Hanesi [online] Available at: anlatim-p4721/ [Accessed ] Harrison, M., Jakeman, V. and Paterson, K. (2012) Improve your grammar. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Jujube (2012) Available at: (Accessed ) King, J. and King, W. (2014) Macbeth Quotes in Modern English. London: No Sweat Shakespeare. [online] Available at: (Accessed ) North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. (2014) NATO Secretary General highlights partnerships during San Francisco visit. Brussels: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. [online] Available at: [Accessed ]

References Oxford Dictionaries. (2014) Abbreviations. Oxford: OUP. [online] Available at: [Accessed ] Sauter, J. (2008) The Apostrophe character rendered using the OCR-A font. Florida: Wikimedia Commons. [online] Available at: [Accessed ] Super Teacher Worksheets. (2013) There, Their, They’re. Tonawanda:Super Teacher Worksheets. Available at: (Accessed ) The University of Wisconsin-Madison. (2014) 10: Apostrophe errors. Madison: The University of Wisconsin- Madison. [online] Available at: [Accessed ]

Academic Skills Advice Service Where are we? Chesham Building B0.23 What do we do? Support undergraduate students with their academic skills by running clinics and workshops, having bookable appointment slots, and enabling students to drop-in for Instant Action. Who are we? Michael and Helen specialise in Maths Support; Lucy and Russell advise students on study skills; and I (Louise) deliver the workshops When can you come for help? Everyday both face to face and on-line How do I get in touch? academic- or website skillsacademic-

Any questions?