What does authorship mean?
Word: Authorship
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Authorship means the fact of being the writer of a book, poem or other piece of work.
How do you spell authorship?
Syllables: au - thor - ship
Tricky part: Author ends in or, not er, and ship is added without any change.
Watch out for: authership, athorship, authorshipp
Memory tip: Write author first, with the same or ending as actor and doctor, then let the word ship sail straight on behind it.
Authorship in a sentence
Example 1: The authorship of the poem is unknown, so it is printed as Anonymous.
Example 2: Both girls claimed authorship of the winning essay.
Example 3: The cover shows the joint authorship of two scientists.
Fun Fact
Tradition gives the authorship of the Mahabharata to the sage Vyasa, who also appears as a character in the epic itself.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Only one of these root words takes the suffix ship to make a real word. Choose it.
a) publish
b) author
c) write
d) print
Show answer
b) author. Author + ship makes authorship; writeship, printship and publishship are not words.
Spell-o-Spell
Three words in the list are spelt correctly and one is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. anthalogy 2. publisher 3. authorship 4. manuscript
a) the fact of having written a piece of work
b) a collection of poems or stories by different writers
c) a book or document written by hand or before printing
d) a company that prepares and sells books
Show answer
b) a collection of poems or stories by different writers. Anthology has an o after the th: an-thol-o-gy.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The professor proved the hiptusaroh of the letter by comparing the handwriting.
a) partnership
b) authorise
c) authority
d) authorship
Show answer
d) authorship. Authority ends in ty and partnership is longer; two h's and a p give authorship.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. If the authorship of a book is disputed, people disagree about ____.
a) how long it is
b) where it was printed
c) who wrote it
d) how much it costs
Show answer
c) who wrote it
2. In which word does ship have the same sense as in authorship, the state of being something?
a) shipwreck
b) shipyard
c) friendship
d) spaceship
Show answer
c) friendship
