of  the  sentence.  The  difference  between  the  use of  commas  or  parentheses  is  simply  a  matter  of degree. Examples of various uses of parentheses are  shown  below. The  entire  city,  which  by  1940  had  a population  of  47,000,  was  placed  under martial law. The  entire  city  (population  47,000)  was placed  under  martial  law. In the second sentence the break is so abrupt that  parentheses  are  more  appropriate. Is  it  true  that  there  are  a  few  occasions (mark  that  word  “few”)  on  which  such stress is appropriate? NOTE: When parentheses come at the end of the sentence, the appropriate punctuation should be  placed  outside  the  parentheses. If you are caught speeding, there will be a confrontation  (plus  a  nice,  fat  fine). Apostrophe The apostrophe is used to show the omission of   one   or   more   letters   or   figures,   as   in contractions,  the  possessive  case  of  words,  the plural form of letters that are spoken of as words, and  as  single  quotation  marks.  Examples  of various uses of the apostrophe are shown below. The  apostrophe  is  used  to  form  the possessive  case  of  a  noun. father’s   opinion man’s   coat women’s   clubs For  singular  nouns  ending  in  “s”,  it  is permissible to add the apostrophe without the “s” to   avoid   too   many   “s”  sounds.  To  form  the possessive case of plural nouns ending in “s”, add only  the  apostrophe  in  all  instances. the  boys’  gymnasium the  Jones’  house The possessive case should be placed at the end  of  a  compound  word. his  son-in-law’s  work someone  else’s  turn Chief   of   Engineer’s   office When two or more persons are thought of as  a  single  combination,  the  apostrophe  and  “s” should  be  added  to  the  last  “s”  only. I  like  to  browse  in  the  Warren  and Forrest’s   book   store. As  a  general  rule,  nouns  denoting  things without life should not be used in the possessive form. The   door   of   the   garage—NOT—the garage’s   door Exceptions  to  this  rule  are  expressions denoting  time,  value,  or  distance.  For  example: a  day’s  work a  dollar’s  worth war’s  destruction . duty’s  call a  week’s  pay Personal  pronouns  in  the  possessive  case do not require an apostrophe (his, hers, its, ours, yours,  theirs,  whose). I  thought  the  scarf  was  hers. Do  you  know  whose  book  that  is? Indefinite pronouns in the possessive case require  an  apostrophe  and  “s”  (one,  everyone, everybody,   etc.). Everyone’s  prediction  was  wrong. He  objected  to  everybody’s  method  of work. 5-27