A-manual-for-writers-of-research-papers-theses-and-dissertations

the role of the United Statesinstead ofthe United States' rolefor the sake of appearanceinstead offor appearance' sakeCOMPOUND WORDS. Form the possessives of singular compound words by adding anapostrophe and s to the last word, even if the main noun is first.his sister-in-law's businessthe attorney general's decisionAvoid using the possessive for plural compounds in which the noun is followed by aprepositional phrase or adjective; rephrase instead.decisions of the attorneys generalnotattorneys' general decisionsMULTIPLE NOUNS. If a possessive indicates that two or more entities each possess somethingseparately, make all the nouns possessive.New York's and Chicago's teamshistorians' and economists' methodsIf a possessive indicates that two or more entities possess something jointly, make only thelast noun possessive.Minneapolis and St. Paul's teamshistorians and economists' dataTERMS IN ITALICS AND QUOTATION MARKS. If a term in italics is possessive, both theapostrophe and the s should be in roman type. Do not add a possessive to a term in quotationmarks; rephrase the sentence.the Atlantic Monthly's editoradmirers of “Ode on a Grecian Urn”20.3 Compounds and Words Formed with PrefixesIt is difficult to predict when a compound word, or a compound modifier, should behyphenated, left open (with a space, not a hyphen, between elements), or closed (spelled asone word). The best authority is your dictionary. If you cannot find a compound there, followthe principles in the following paragraphs to decide whether or not to hyphenate. If youcannot find the form in either place, leave the compound open.The patterns outlined below are not hard-and-fast rules. You will have to decide manyindividual cases on the basis of context, personal taste, or common usage in your discipline.Although much of the suggested hyphenation is logical and aids readability, some is onlywww.itpub.net