The student-friendly text, English-Not Anguish, is the result of study sheets I developed to assist my students, who were struggling with the sophisticated English books on the market. Although I used a wide variety of texts during my forty-year teaching career, the results were always the same. Students disliked English class-because they didn't understand it. Many of them appealed to their parents for help, but their parents were not equipped to assist them.

Since communication is an integral part of success in the business world, I knew that my students' careers were in jeopardy. Using their difficulty with the text as my premise, I developed a worksheet on the first unit from the following standpoint: If I knew nothing about this unit, what approach would make it easy to learn?

The worksheet was an instant hit; they loved it. Their trailing grades immediately began to spiral upward. Better than that, they began to like the subject and pride themselves on their progress. As the students experienced success, they requested additional study sheets. Other instructors who used my material had the same satisfying experience. They and my students recommended that I develop a text incorporating the worksheets to help others.

Learning occurs during repetitive implementation, so I have amplified the material, adding numerous exercises and solutions to the exercises. Also, I have added style in capitalization, number usage, and abbreviations. Professionally and personally, I receive many requests for assistance in writing resumes, writing cover and thank you letters, and interviewing. The unit on professional development covers these areas and provides sample documents. When I met with my attorney to have my manuscript copyrighted, he asked for the name of it. Off the top of my head came the answer. This isn't anguish for the students; they enjoy it.

I am a student-oriented teacher, who is dedicated to giving students the best possible training in communications and professional development to ensure success in their personal and business lives. While I have been teaching for over 40 years, I have researched the methods and materials that motivate students and make the material easy to learn and understand-and of more importance--to retain and implement. My only claim to success is my students' achievements. That is why I developed English study sheets that grew into the text, English- Not Anguish.

With an educational background in Business and English, I taught at a high school level for three years, worked as a legal secretary for three years, and then returned to my first love: teaching. While teaching at a post-secondary level, I developed curriculum for all English classes and Professional Development classes as well as for Medical Secretarial Programs in four schools from 1967 to 1999. Additionally, I taught in all these classes, mentored other instructors in English, and served as department chairperson.

My formal education was at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Assisting young people to learn has been not only my responsibility, but also my joy.

The last unit was on plural nouns--not exactly a news flash, is it? In this unit we will form the possessive case of singular nouns, plural nouns, and pronouns.

NOTE: FORMING THE PLURAL IS ONE PROCEDURE; FORMING THE POSSESSIVE IS AN ENTIRELY SEPARATE PROCEDURE. Remembering this is crucial.

(YOU MAY OR MAY NOT CHANGE A SINGULAR NOUN TO A PLURAL NOUN.) It depends upon the sentence.

The man bought his ticket and boarded the plane. The word his tells us to keep the noun man singular.

Five man bought their tickets and boarded the plane. The words five and their indicate that we must change the singular man to the plural men.

Each student will be assigned his/her locker. The words each and his/her are singular and show that student should remain singular.

All student will be assigned their lockers. The plural words all and their indicate that singular student must be changed to the plural students.

The sentences listed above illustrate nouns--singular and plural. There is no possession shown; consequently, no apostrophes are used.

Now we are going to begin with possessives and apostrophes.

Use this as your criterion to decide whether or not a noun is possessive. If it is not followed by another noun (or noun form/noun understood), it is not possessive.

Take the sentences listed above and change them to make the nouns show possession.

The man helpful assistant bought his ticket. Man is a noun and assistant is a noun. The first one is possessive and uses the apostrophe--man's. "Helpful" is an adjective and does not influence the possessive.

Five men assistants bought their tickets. Men is a noun and assistants is a noun. The first one is possessive and uses the apostrophe--men's. Plural possessive

Each student friend will be assigned a locker. Student is a noun and friend is a noun. The first one is possessive--student's. Singular possessive

All students close friends will be assigned lockers. Students is a noun and friends is a noun. The first one is possessive--students'. Plural possessive "close" adjective

Now we know how to determine two conditions:

1. Whether or not the noun should remain singular or should be made plural to fit the sentence. (Perform this procedure first.) Whether or not the noun should be made possessive (noun followed by a noun). (Perform this procedure second.)

Let's make those determinations on some sample sentences AND ALSO LEARN WHERE TO PLACE THE APOSTROPHE IN A POSSESSIVE WORD.

Examples

1. Should the noun child be made plural? No, "a" says singular.
2. Is there a noun following the noun child? No! There is no possessive (and, of no apostrophe). The sentence is correct as it stands.

A child toy was lost in the park.

1. Should the noun child be made plural? No, again "a" says singular.

Is there a noun following the noun child? Yes, (toy), so we make the first noun possessive--child's toy. Singular possessive

FIRST APOSTROPHE PLACEMENT RULE: TO MAKE ANY SINGULAR NOUN POSSESSIVE, ADD APOSTROPHE AND THEN S. (It makes no difference with what letter the singular noun ends.)

Examples

child's toy
mother-in-law's recipe
dog's paw
passerby's glance
senator-elect's campaign
Mr. Jones's car
Dr. Evans's stethoscope
actress's role
boss's desk
Mrs. Shultz's test
mouse's ears

1. Four child played in the park.
2. Should the noun child be made plural? Yes, the word four indicates that. Change child to children.
3. Is there another noun following children? No. There is no possession shown and no apostrophe. Four children played in the park.