Brief contents Introductory Elementary Rules of Usage Elementary Principles of Composition A Few Matters of Form Words and Expressions Commonly Misused Words Commonly Misspelled Contents Introductory Elementary Rules of Usage 1. Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's. 2. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last. 3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas. 4. Place a comma before and or but introducing an independent clause. 5. Do not join independent clauses by a comma. 6. Do not break sentences in two. 7. A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject. 8. Divide words at line-ends, in accordance with their formation and pronunciation. Elementary Principles of Composition 9. Make the paragraph the unit of composition: one paragraph to each topic. 10. As a rule, begin each paragraph with a topic sentence; end it in conformity with the beginning. 11. Use the active voice. 12. Put statements in positive form. 13. Omit needless words. 14. Avoid a succession of loose sentences. 15. Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form. 16. Keep related words together. 17. In summaries, keep to one tense. 18. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end. A Few Matters of Form Words and Expressions Commonly Misused Words Commonly Misspelled This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1931. The longest-living author of this work died in 1946, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 79 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse