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Strunk, William. 1918. The Elements of Style.

This book is intended for use in English courses in which the practice
composition is combined with the study of literature. It aims to give
in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style. It aims
to lighten the task of instructor and student by concentrating attention
(in Chapters II and III) on a few essentials, the rules of usage and
principles of composition most commonly violated. The numbers of the
sections may be used as references in correcting manuscript.

The book covers only a small portion of the field of English style,
but the experience of its writer has been that once past the essentials,
students profit most by individual instruction based on the problems
of their own work, and that each instructor has his own body of theory,
which he prefers to that offered by any textbook.

The writer's colleagues in the Department of English in Cornell
University have greatly helped him in the preparation of his manuscript.
Mr. George McLane Wood has kindly consented to the inclusion under Rule 11
of some material from his Suggestions to Authors.

The following books are recommended for reference or further study:
in connection with Chapters II and IV, F. Howard Collins, Author and
Printer (Henry Frowde); Chicago University Press, Manual of Style;
T. L. De Vinne Correct Composition (The Century Company); Horace Hart,
Rules for Compositors and Printers (Oxford University Press); George
McLane Wood, Extracts from the Style-Book of the Government Printing Office
(United States Geological Survey); in connection with Chapters III
and V, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, The Art of Writing (Putnams), especially
the chapter, Interlude on Jargon; George McLane Wood, Suggestions to
Authors (United States Geological Survey); John Leslie Hall, English
Usage (Scott, Foresman and Co.); James P. Kelly, Workmanship in Words
(Little, Brown and Co.).

It is an old observation that the best writers sometimes disregard
the rules of rhetoric. When they do so, however, the reader will
usually find in the sentence some compensating merit, attained at the
cost of the violation. Unless he is certain of doing as well, he will
probably do best to follow the rules. After he has learned, by their
guidance, to write plain English adequate for everyday uses, let him
look, for the secrets of style, to the study of the masters of literature.

I. ELEMENTARY RULES OF USAGE

Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's.

Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write,

Charles's friend
Burns's poems