Anker Susan. Real Essays with Readings with 2009 MLA Update
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EDITING ESSAYS
Chapter 37 • Commas 687
remained nearly constant over the decades. (19) No the difference is that
people now hear about these unusual and terrifying instances over and
over. (20) Eventually they reach the conclusion that these stories must
be true and they are convinced that such dreadful things must happen
frequently. (21) The e-mail I had received was contributing I decided
to this climate of irrational fear. (22) “Ann Landers’s reader was right”
I said to myself. (23) “We should teach our children caution but we can
harm them and ourselves by making them believe that evil strangers are
lurking around every corner.”
PRACTICE 7 EDITING YOUR OWN WRITING FOR COMMAS
As a fi nal practice, edit a piece of your own writing for commas. It can be a
paper you are working on for this course, a paper you’ve already fi nished, a
paper for another course, a recent piece of writing from your work or everyday
life, or your idea journal entry.
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688
38
Apostrophes
’
Understand What Apostrophes Do
An apostrophe (’) is a punctuation mark that either shows ownership
(Susan’s) or indicates that a letter has been intentionally left out to form
a contraction (I’m, that’s, they’re). Although an apostrophe looks like a
comma (,), it is not used for the same purpose, and it is written higher on
the line than commas are.
apostrophe’ comma,
Practice Using Apostrophes Correctly
Apostrophes to Show Ownership
• Add ’s to a singular noun to show ownership even if the noun
already ends in s.
Darcy’s car is being repaired.
Joan got all the information she needed from the hotel’s Web site.
Chris’s house is only a mile away.
■ IDEA JOURNAL
Write about some
possessions that you
and others in your
family value.
■ To understand this
chapter, you need to
know what nouns
and pronouns are.
For a review, see
Chapters 22, 27,
and 33.
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EDITING ESSAYS
Chapter 38 • Apostrophes 689
• If a noun is plural and ends in s, just add an apostrophe to show
ownership. If it is plural but does not end in s, add ’s.
The actors’ outfi ts were dazzling. [More than one actor]
Seven boys’ coats were left at the school.
The children’s toys were all broken.
• The placement of an apostrophe makes a difference in meaning.
My neighbor’s twelve cats are howling. [One neighbor who has twelve cats]
My neighbors’ twelve cats are howling. [Two or more neighbors who to-
gether have twelve cats]
• Do not use an apostrophe to form the plural of a noun.
Use the stair’s or the elevator.
All of the plant’s in the garden are blooming.
• Do not use an apostrophe with a possessive pronoun. These
pronouns already show ownership (possession).
Do you want to take my car or your’s?
That basket is our’s.
Possessive Pronouns
my his its their
mine her our theirs
your hers ours whose
yours
Its or It’s
The single most common error with apostrophes and pronouns is con-
fusing its (a possessive pronoun) with it’s (a contraction meaning “it is”).
Whenever you write it’s, test to see if it’s correct by reading it aloud as it is.
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EDITING ESSAYS
690 Part Seven • Punctuation and Capitalization
PRACTICE 1 USING APOSTROPHES TO SHOW OWNERSHIP
Edit the following sentences by adding ’s or an apostrophe alone to show own-
ership and by crossing out any incorrect use of an apostrophe or ’s.
EXAMPLE: Fever’s are an important part of the human bodys system
of defense against infection.
1. A thermometers indicator mark at 98.6 degrees is supposed to show a
persons normal body temperature.
2. However, normal body temperature can range from 97 degrees to 100.4
degrees, so most doctors view of a temperature lower than 100.5 is that
its not a fever at all.
3. Fever’s help the body combat virus’s and stimulate the immune system.
4. Unless a persons temperature is raised by an outside source, the bodys
regulatory system will not usually let a fever go higher than 106 degrees.
5. A fevers appearance is not necessarily a reason to take fever-reducing
medication’s, which can lower a bodys temperature without doing any-
thing to fi ght the infection.
6. Taking fever-reducing drug’s can actually make an illness take longer to
run it’s course.
7. Many doctors’ do not recommend using any drugs to treat a fever if its
lower than 102 degrees.
8. Parents should know that childrens fevers can go higher than their’s.
9. Some parents fears of fever are so intense that they suffer from “fever
phobia” and overreact to their childrens’ symptoms.
10. Fever phobia can cause parent’s to give their child extra medicine, but
overdoses of ibuprofen and other fever reducers can impair the livers’
ability to work properly and can therefore complicate the childs sickness.
Fevers
^
body’s
^
■ Answers to odd-
numbered practice
items are at the back
of the book.
■ For more practice
with apostrophe
usage, visit
Exercise Central at
bedfordstmartins
.com/realessays.
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EDITING ESSAYS
Chapter 38 • Apostrophes 691
Apostrophes in Contractions
A contraction is formed by joining two words and leaving out one or
more of the letters. When writing a contraction, put an apostrophe where
the letter or letters have been left out, not between the two words.
NOTE: In academic writing, contractions are rarely used.
Carol’s studying to be a nurse. = Carol is studying to be a nurse.
I’ll go when you come back. = I will go when you come back.
Be sure to put the apostrophe in the right place.
Don does’n’t work here anymore.
■ Do not use
contractions in formal
papers or reports for
college or work.
Common Contractions
aren’t = are not she’ll = she will
can’t = cannot she’s = she is, she has
couldn’t = could not there’s = there is, there has
didn’t = did not they’d = they would, they had
doesn’t = does not they’ll = they will
don’t = do not they’re = they are
he’d = he would, he had they’ve = they have
he’ll = he will who’d = who would, who had
he’s = he is, he has who’ll = who will
I’d = I would, I had who’s = who is, who has
I’ll = I will won’t = will not
I’m = I am wouldn’t = would not
I’ve = I have you’d = you would, you had
isn’t = is not you’ll = you will
it’s = it is, it has you’re = you are
let’s = let us you’ve = you have
she’d = she would, she had
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EDITING ESSAYS
692 Part Seven • Punctuation and Capitalization
PRACTICE 2 USING APOSTROPHES IN CONTRACTIONS
Read each sentence carefully, looking for any words that have missing letters.
Edit these words by adding apostrophes where needed. Or, if apostrophes are
misplaced, cross out and correct the error.
EXAMPLE: Its sadly true that some athletes will use performance-
enhancing drugs if they can get away with it.
1. Those who do often say theyre using these drugs because their compet-
itors are probably using them too.
2. Performance-enhancing drugs help some athletes win competitions, but
for other athletes, these drugs arent enough to ensure victory.
3. Most athletes taking steroids and other substances say they would’nt use
these drugs if they could be certain that their opponents are’nt using them.
4. Wholl be the one to put a stop to this drug use?
5. If sports organizations do’nt eliminate drug use, we all know whos the
loser.
6. Youre the loser, Im the loser, and all athletes are the losers.
7. When even one athlete gets away with using drugs, we ca’nt trust that any
athletic competition has been won fairly.
8. Youve got to take a stand, Ive got to take a stand, and anyone who be-
lieves in fairness has got to take a stand.
It’s
^
Language Note: Contractions that include a be verb cannot be fol-
lowed by the base verb or the helping verbs can, does, or has.
INCORRECT She’s work late. Dan’s has sick.
CORRECT She’s working late. Dan’s sick.
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EDITING ESSAYS
Chapter 38 • Apostrophes 693
9. Lets eliminate performance-enhancing drugs now.
10. If we all are’nt ready to unite against drug use in sports, we might as well
change the word athlete to actor.
Apostrophes with Letters, Numbers,
and Time
• Use ’s to make letters and numbers plural. The apostrophe pre-
vents confusion or misreading.
Mississippi has four i’s.
In women’s shoes, size 8’s are more common than size 10’s.
• Use an apostrophe or ’s in certain expressions in which time
nouns are treated as if they possess something.
I get two weeks’ vacation next year.
Last year’s prices were very good.
PRACTICE 3 USING APOSTROPHES WITH LETTERS,
NUMBERS, AND TIME
Edit the following sentences by adding apostrophes where needed and fi xing
incorrectly used apostrophes.
EXAMPLE: I just updated my blog by entering the last three week’s
worth of entries.
1. Next months schedule is less busy, so I think I’ll be able to keep my blog
current then.
2. Arthur’s blog offers an entire winters worth of detail on his social life.
3. His blog is a little hard to read because he always leaves out certain letters,
such as as, es, and os.
weeks’
^
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EDITING ESSAYS
694 Part Seven • Punctuation and Capitalization
4. Katie’s blog also gets confusing when she puts all of her 4s and 8s in
Roman numerals.
5. When Manny’s computer was stolen, he lost notes for his blog and two
year’s work on his novel.
Edit Paragraphs and Your Own Writing
Edit the following paragraphs by adding apostrophes where needed and
crossing out incorrectly used apostrophes. If a sentence is already correct,
put a “C” after it.
EDITING REVIEW 1 (15 errors)
(1) Some of the fi rst discussion’s of global warming focused attention
on one of the gases that contributes to the greenhouse effect: methane.
(2) Like other greenhouse gases, methane helps to keep the earths’ heat
trapped in our atmosphere, and the temperature of the earth goes up
as a result. (3) Humans are’nt the only producers of methane; its also a
by-product of cow’s digestion of their food. (4) For a while, many Amer-
icans knowledge of global warming didnt go much further than cow jokes.
(5) As scientists’ have become more convinced that global warming is
real and a potential threat to human’s, our knowledge of the causes of the
greenhouse effect has expanded. (6) Cows arent completely off the hook,
but theyre far less guilty of contributing to global warming than humans
and cars are. (7) The amount of methane produced by cows’ adds up
to about 3 percent of the total amount of greenhouse gases produced
by people. (8) Getting a cow to change it’s diet wo’nt solve the worlds
warming problem.
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EDITING ESSAYS
Chapter 38 • Apostrophes 695
EDITING REVIEW 2 (11 errors)
(1) In March of 2001, the keyless entry systems of cars in Bremerton,
Washington, suddenly stopped working, and no one knows why. (2) The
cars locks were supposed to respond when their owner’s pushed a button,
and all at once they wouldnt. (3) After a few days wait, the entry systems
began functioning again. (4) Many resident’s of Bremerton, the home of
a Navy shipyard, were convinced that the militarys technological activ-
ity had affected the cars, but Navy offi cial’s denied it. (5) Other people
wondered if radio transmissions might have jammed the frequency and
prevented the keyless systems’ from functioning. (6) Fortunately, people
whose cars have keyless entry systems were’nt locked out for those days.
(7) These owners simply had to resort to a backup system to open and
lock their car’s — its called a “key.”
PRACTICE 4 EDITING YOUR OWN WRITING FOR APOSTROPHES
As a fi nal practice, edit a piece of your own writing for apostrophes. It can be
a paper you are working on for this course, a paper you’ve already fi nished, a
paper for another course, a recent piece of writing from your work or everyday
life, or your idea journal entry.
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696
39
Quotation Marks
“ ”
Understand What Quotation Marks Do
Quotation marks (“ ”) are punctuation marks with two common uses
in college writing: They are used with some quotations, and they are used
to set off titles. They always appear in pairs.
A quotation is the report of another person’s words. There are two
types of quotations: direct quotations (the exact repetition, word for
word, of what someone said or wrote) and indirect quotations (a re-
statement of what someone said or wrote, not word for word). Quotation
marks are used only for direct quotations.
DIRECT QUOTATION George said, “I’m getting a haircut.”
INDIRECT QUOTATION George said that he was getting a haircut.
Practice Using Quotation Marks
Correctly
Quotation Marks for Direct Quotations
When you write a direct quotation, you need to use quotation marks
around the quoted words. These marks tell readers that the words used
are exactly what was said or written.
Quoted words are usually combined with words that identify who is
speak ing. The identifying words can come after the quoted words, before
■ IDEA JOURNAL
Write about a
conversation you had
today.
■ To understand this
chapter, you need to
know what a sentence
is. For a review, see
Chapter 22.
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