RULE XV — FINAL-LETTER CONTRACTIONS

46. Final-letter contractions should be used in the middle or at the end of a word, or at the beginning of a line in a divided word. They may never begin a word nor be used alone as a whole word, nor should they be used when preceded by the hyphen or the apostrophe. Ex:

grey'ound grey'\nd 'Tion! ',tion6

useless- use.s-
ness ;s

ancechancellorancestor
.e * .ellor ance/or

Frances

,fr.es
sionconfusionSion .n 3fu.n ,sion

expressionless

expres.n.s

lessblessingless .s b.s+ less

carelesslessee
c>e.s lessee

unlesslesson
un.s lesson


unlessoned

unlesson$

ountcountryRountree .t c.try ,r\ntree

county

c.ty


amount

am.t

encefencesencephalitis ;e f;es 5cephalitis
commencement

-m;e;t


thence

?;e


(See §a. below.)

ong mongrel congruous ;g m;grel 3gru\s

pongeeincongruous
p;gee 9congru\s

tongue

t;gue

fulcarefullyfully ;l c>e;lly fully
cheerfulfulfill
*e];l fulfill


unfulfilled

unfulfill$

tiondiction — ;n dic;n

fractional

frac;nal

nessfinesseNesselrode ;s fi;se ,nesselrode

business (See §b. below.)
busi;s


Tennessee

,t5;see

(See §b. below.)

mentmementoment ;t me;to m5tal

comment

-;t

itypityhoity-toity ;y p;y hoity-toity

deity (See §c. below.)
de;y

ation (See §d. below.) (See §d. below.) ,n

ally rallyingally ,y r,y+ ally

usuallyre-ally
usu,y re-ally

really (See §c. below.)
re,y

a. The contraction "ence" should be used when followed by "d" or "r." Ex:

b. The contraction "ness" should be used in such easily read words as:

but not where the root word ends in "en" or "in." Ex:

XV-6 RULE XV. 46.c.

c. The contractions "ity" and "ally" should not be used where "y" has been added to a base word. Ex:

fruity fruity squally squally

d. The contraction "ation" should be used in preference to the letter "a" and the contraction "tion." Ex:

education $uc,n stationary /,n>y