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Stylebook
Its, it’s / Possessives / Shall, will / Share /
Should, would / Utilize, Well / Will, would /
Percent, percentage point, percentile

By: Mikaela Tormon

IT’S/ITS

IT‘S: Contraction of it is
Example: It’s a cat.

ITS: Possessive form of it

Example: Its name is Mouse.
 Possessives
Singular nouns not ending in “s,” add
Cat’s litter box.
an apostrophe “s.”

Singular nouns ending in “s,” add

apostrophe s. Actress’s lines
If the next word begins with “s,” Actress’ scenes
only add an apostrophe.

Proper names ending in “s,” use only an Jules’ bike

apostrophe. Norris’ race car

Plural nouns not ending in “s,” add “’s.” Cacti’s thorns/spines.

plural nouns ending in “s,” add only an

apostrophe. Cats’ litter box
 Possessives
The possessive form of pronouns has mine, ours, your, yours, his, hers, its,
no apostrophe. theirs, whose.

Compound construction:

use a possessive form after only the Johnny and Mark’s song.
last word if ownership is joint, but Cat’s bed and dog’s toys
after both words if they are
individually owned.

Do not add an apostrophe to a plural

word ending in s when the longer form
Writers strike
means “for” or
Directors guild
“by.”
Shall/Will, Should/Would,
Will/Would
WILL: future-tense helping verb for first, second, or third person.
I will be leaving soon.
SHALL: first person questions asking consent or opinion.
Shall we conduct a survey?
Indicate determination.
I shall pass the test
SHOULD: express duty or obligation.
I should study.
WOULD: express habitual or repeated action.
I would sleep every midday.
Form conditional past tense.
If you had done the essay earlier, you would not have to cram it now.
Follow an if clause that is contrary to fact.
If I were you, I would take the opportunity.
Share
Utilize/Well

Share
Do not use as subsitute for said.
“It was three-hour exsistensial crisis of a movie” he said.
“It was a three-hour exsistensial crisis of a movie“ he
shares.

UTILIZE/WELL
UITILIZE: write “use” instead.
They used the remaining tokens.

WHEN TO HYPHENATE: compound modifier (if well precedes

the noun).
The fashion house presented an array of well-made
dresses.
Some of the suits were not tailored well.
PERCENT/PERCENTAGE/
PERCENTILE/POINT

Calculating Percent Percentage Point Percentile

Change
(New figure - Old figure)/Old figure x 100
Difference between two percentages.
He notes the 2 percentage point
difference from 2018 and 2019.
Do not use percentile as a substitute for
percent.
The Philippines ranked within the6th
percentile.