General Notes on English Writing:

It is curious how many people confuse its with it's. Some people report having even seen its'. The rules are as follows:

it's

A contraction of it is.

its

Possessive of it, e.g., ``The specimen was loaded with its axis aligned with..." It is just like his and hers; there is no apostrophe.

its'

Not yet available in the English language.

Contractions should not be used in technical report writing. Do not write: can't, isn't, won't, etc. Always write the full form: cannot, is not, will not, etc.

The abbreviation of for example is e.g., not eg., and it should always be followed by a comma; e.g., refer to the description of its above. The abbreviation of that is to say is i.e.. The rule for i.e. is the same as for e.g., i.e., ie. does not exist. Both these examples are foreign words and should be italicized.

Several similar abbreviations are standard, commonly accepted, and may be used without restriction. However, if you are abbreviating something uncommon, technical, etc., you should write it out in full the first time it appears followed, in brackets, by the abbreviation (or acronym) you use thereafter; e.g., a computer assisted report-writing program (CARP) was developed. Then further along ...The CARP greatly reduced the effort required to write the project report.

Use a colon to precede a list, e.g., ``The following sections should be included in a report: Introduction, Methods, etc.''

Some words are frequently used incorrectly, simply because they sound similar. Among these are:

than and then

Than is the conjunction that introduces the second element of a comparison. Then is an adverb meaning at that time.

effect and affect

Effect is to bring about a result or an event. Affect is to influence or produce an effect on something. Only effect is recognized as also being a noun.

insure and ensure

Insure is to secure a payment of money in case of a loss. Ensure is to make certain of something.

increase and decrease

These are only confused when using negative numbers. Values to which a positive number have been added increase e.g., $-20 +5$ increased by five to $-15$ the value of $-20$ . Values to which a negative number have been added decrease e.g., $-20-5$ decreased by five to $-25$ the value of $-20$ .

meter and metre

A metre is the length unit. A meter is a measuring instrument as in voltmeter or accelerometer.

Learn what these words mean and use them correctly.