UniWiki:Manual of Style: Difference between revisions

== Grammar and usage ==

=== Possessives ===

{{hatnote|For the apostrophe character, see {{section link||Apostrophes}}, above. For thorough treatment of the English possessive, see [[Apostrophe]].}}

==== Singular nouns ====

* For the possessive of most singular nouns, including proper names and words ending with a double-s, add ''<nowiki />'s'' ({{xt|my daughter's achievement}}, {{xt|my niece's wedding}}, {{xt|Cortez's men}}, {{xt|the boss's office}}, {{xt|Glass's books}}, {{xt|Illinois's largest employer}}, {{xt|Descartes's philosophy}}, {{xt|Verreaux's eagle}}). Exception: abstract nouns ending with an /s/ sound, when followed by ''sake'' ({{xt|for goodness' sake}}, {{xt|for his conscience' sake}}).

*#* Add ''<nowiki />'s'' if the possessive has an additional {{IPAc-en|<s>ɪ</s>|z}} at the end: {{xt|Jan Hus's life}}, {{xt|Morris's works}}.

: Apply just {{em|one}} of these two practices consistently within an article. If the second practice is used and there is disagreement over the pronunciation of a possessive, the choice should be discussed and then that possessive adopted consistently in an article. (Possessives of certain classical and biblical names have traditional pronunciations that may be deemed to take precedence: {{xt|Jesus' answer}} and {{xt|Xerxes' expeditions}}, but {{xt|Zeus's anger}}; and in some cases—particularly possessives of inanimate objects—rewording may be an option: {{xt|the location of Vilnius}}, {{xt|the old bus route}}, {{xt|the moons of Mars}}.)

==== Plural nouns ====

==== Official names ====

* Official names (of companies, organizations, or places) should not be altered. ({{xt|[[St Thomas' Hospital]]}} should therefore {{em|not}} be rendered as {{!xt|St Thomas's Hospital}}, even for consistency.)

Wikipedia articles must not be based on one person's opinions or experiences, so never use ''I'', ''my'', or similar forms (except in quotations).

* The author's ''we'' found in scientific writing: {{xt|We are thus led also to a definition of "time" in physics}} (Albert Einstein); {{xt|Throughout the proof of this theorem we assume that the function {{var|ƒ}} is uniformly continuous}}. Often rephrasing using the [[English passive voice|passive voice]] is preferable: {{xt|Throughout the proof of this theorem it is assumed that the function {{var|ƒ}} is uniformly continuous.}}

Avoid addressing the reader directly by using the second-person [[generic you|generic ''you'']] or ''your''; it is often ambiguous, and contrary to the tone of an encyclopedia (see also {{section link||Instructional and presumptuous language}}, below).

* If a person cannot be specified, or when implying "anyone" as a subject, the pronoun ''[[One (pronoun)|one]]'' may be used, as an alternative to the vernacular ''you'': {{xt|a sense that one is being watched}}. Other constructions are usually preferable, because usage of ''one'' can seem stilted.

* The [[English passive voice|passive voice]] may sometimes be used instead: {{xt|Impurities are removed before bottling}}.

=== Plurals ===

{{shortcut|MOS:PLURALS}}

{{see also|English plurals|Collective noun}}

{{for|the page title guideline|WP:SINGULAR}}

Use the appropriate plural; allow for cases (such as ''[[excursus]]'' or ''[[hanif]]'') in which a word is now listed in major English dictionaries, and normally takes an ''s'' or ''es'' plural, not its original plural: {{xt|two excursuses}}, not {{!xt|two ''{{lang|la|excursus}}''}} as in Latin; {{xt|two hanifs}}, not {{!xt|two ''hanufa''}} as in Arabic.

Some [[collective noun]]s—such as ''team'' (and proper names of them), ''army'', ''company'', ''crowd'', ''fleet'', ''government'', ''majority'', ''mess'', ''number'', ''pack'', and ''party''—may refer either to a single entity or to the members that compose it. In British English, such words are sometimes treated as singular, but more often treated as plural, according to context. Exceptionally, names of towns and countries usually take singular verbs (unless they are being used to refer to a team or company by that name, or when discussing actions of that entity's government). For example, in {{xt|[[England national football team|England]] are playing [[Germany national football team|Germany]] tonight}}, ''England'' refers to a [[Association football|football]] team; but in {{xt|England is the most populous country of the United Kingdom}}, it refers to the country. In North American English, these words (and ''the United States'', for historical reasons) are almost invariably treated as singular; the major exception is when sports teams are referred to by nicknames that are plural nouns, when plural verbs are commonly used to match. See also {{section link||National varieties of English}}, above.

=== Verb tense ===

{{redirect3|MOS:PRESENT|the guideline on wording like "presently" and "current", see [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers#Statements likely to become outdated]]}}

{{see also|Wikipedia:Writing better articles#Tense}}

By default, write all articles in the present tense, including for those covering products or works that have been discontinued. Articles discussing works of fiction are also written in the present tense {{crossref|(see {{section link|WP:Writing better articles|Tense}})}}. Generally, do not use past tense except for deceased subjects, past events, and subjects that no longer meaningfully exist as such.

Tense can be used to distinguish between current and former status of a subject: {{xt|Dún Aonghasa {{strong|is}} the ruin of a prehistoric Irish cliff fort. Its original shape {{strong|was}} presumably oval or D-shaped, but parts of the cliff and fort have since collapsed into the sea.}} (Emphasis added for clarity.)