Page 88 - Improve_Your_Written_English [Marion_Field]

74 / P ART ONE: THE B AS ICS

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
UFO Unidentified Flying Object
VAT Value Added Tax

REVISING THE POINTS
◆ The apostrophe is placed before the ‘s’ if the noun is
singular.

◆ The apostrophe is placed after the ‘s’ if the noun is
plural.XX

◆ If something ‘belongs’, add an ‘s’ and put the apostrophe
before it if the plural does not end in ‘s’.

◆ Do not use an apostrophe when using a possessive
pronoun.
◆ Remember ‘its’ possessive does not use an apostrophe.

◆ Put a full stop after shortened or abbreviated words.

◆ Do not put a full stop after contractions, in acronyms or
when the initial letters only have been used.

PRACTISING WHAT YOU’VE LEARNT
1. Put apostrophes in the following passage:

Carefully he picked up Johns bundle. It wasnt very
heavy. He glanced warily at the caves entrance. It was
very dark. The picnic baskets still lay where theyd been
thrown. He stepped into the cave and almost fell over a
pile of little rubber tubes that looked like mices tails.