Insufferable swot with a dictionary up 'is arse, innit?
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torqueless
Senior Retro Guru
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Yeah that was the purpose of my OP. There is the chance that anyone who is genuinely confused by apostrophes will read it and get a clue as to what they are for and where they go. Or I might have made it even more confusing! Some people get things wrong deliberately sometimes, inuit? Either for comic effect or to identify with some social sub-group. I do that myself. I'm not going to jump on anyone's post to point out apostrophe misuse, especially not (any more) on this thread where people have been mis-using them just to rile me..
I'm guilty of having habitually used the 'apostrophe' key to save myself the trouble of moving into upper-case to use the "quotation marks" key... so.. you know..
Indubitably, Roadking! Imagine how vulgar and socially insecure I am to not only post the link that lets everyone know that (I think) I know what you are talking about, but to do it with arcane, obscure and gratuitous multi-syllabic words?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English
Just remembered this yesterday morning. I haven't read it. Great title, and of course somebody has been through the author's text and found all their punctuation gaffes, and published it... Academics, eh?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eats,_Shoots_&_Leaves
Yeah that was the purpose of my OP. There is the chance that anyone who is genuinely confused by apostrophes will read it and get a clue as to what they are for and where they go. Or I might have made it even more confusing! Some people get things wrong deliberately sometimes, inuit? Either for comic effect or to identify with some social sub-group. I do that myself. I'm not going to jump on anyone's post to point out apostrophe misuse, especially not (any more) on this thread where people have been mis-using them just to rile me..
I'm guilty of having habitually used the 'apostrophe' key to save myself the trouble of moving into upper-case to use the "quotation marks" key... so.. you know..
Indubitably, Roadking! Imagine how vulgar and socially insecure I am to not only post the link that lets everyone know that (I think) I know what you are talking about, but to do it with arcane, obscure and gratuitous multi-syllabic words?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English
Just remembered this yesterday morning. I haven't read it. Great title, and of course somebody has been through the author's text and found all their punctuation gaffes, and published it... Academics, eh?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eats,_Shoots_&_Leaves
Interesting topic.
I've noticed that most people put an apostrophe when pluralising a name in caps, acronym, model etc, such as: SCOTT's, XT's, HS33's, 205's etc.
I've always thought it's incorrect but have started doing it myself too. Whadd'ya find?
Also, a pet hate of mine - brought instead of bought.
I've noticed that most people put an apostrophe when pluralising a name in caps, acronym, model etc, such as: SCOTT's, XT's, HS33's, 205's etc.
I've always thought it's incorrect but have started doing it myself too
. Whadd'ya find? Also, a pet hate of mine - brought instead of bought
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Its putting commas, in sentences that I always seem to, get wrong.
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cybernck":34xins2m said:Also, a pet hate of mine - brought instead of bought
absolutely, in conversation it can be quite confusing in shops i have worked in, people have said "i brought this here" and i have said "ok what do you want me to do with it?" at which point they have asked for a refund, "oh so you you mean your bought it here?", "yes that's what i said", no "you said you "brought" it here, the verbs are "to buy" and "to bring", you seem to have them confused"
M-Power
Old School Grand Master
Re:
London is the best place to hear a wide variety of variants of the Queen's English, especially East Lond. I used to be bothered by it but now I accept it as the norm and even mimic the new street vernacular to be understood. Standing out as an pseudo intellectually superior MBA type can get you killed these days.
I only use an Iphone with a small screen to read and post, so sometimes I can't be @rsed to proof read everything and correct my posts. I'm in the 'as long as its understandable its OK' camp. As has been said, FB is particularly bad.
Talking of Jamaican 'Ting' I fricking love drinking that grapefruit soda :mrgreen:
London is the best place to hear a wide variety of variants of the Queen's English, especially East Lond. I used to be bothered by it but now I accept it as the norm and even mimic the new street vernacular to be understood. Standing out as an pseudo intellectually superior MBA type can get you killed these days.
I only use an Iphone with a small screen to read and post, so sometimes I can't be @rsed to proof read everything and correct my posts. I'm in the 'as long as its understandable its OK' camp. As has been said, FB is particularly bad.
Talking of Jamaican 'Ting' I fricking love drinking that grapefruit soda :mrgreen:
torqueless
Senior Retro Guru
Re:
I'd just like to add that the concept of "ownership" is a broader category than it might appear to be on the surface. I guess we have all heard of General Custer? No doubt he had a revolver, which would be "Custer's revolver". I think he also had a moustache, which would be "Custer's moustache". He is mostly remembered for the "last stand", which would likewise be "Custer's last stand", even though it involved a lot of other people, some of whom were "Custer's troops".
I also just realised that there is a whole lot of present tense third-person singular verbs that end with an "s", and are thus ripe for apostrophe abuse. They do not need an apostrophe.
If, instead of making a last stand, Custer decides to surrender, or shoots himself, or shits in his pants, or even orders a take-away curry...
well.. apart from "his", all of the words in that sentence that end with an "s" are present tense third-person singular verbs, so none of them are going to need an apostrophe before their terminal "s".
But of course if Custer decides to surrender, that is Custer's decision.
I'd just like to add that the concept of "ownership" is a broader category than it might appear to be on the surface. I guess we have all heard of General Custer? No doubt he had a revolver, which would be "Custer's revolver". I think he also had a moustache, which would be "Custer's moustache". He is mostly remembered for the "last stand", which would likewise be "Custer's last stand", even though it involved a lot of other people, some of whom were "Custer's troops".
I also just realised that there is a whole lot of present tense third-person singular verbs that end with an "s", and are thus ripe for apostrophe abuse. They do not need an apostrophe.
If, instead of making a last stand, Custer decides to surrender, or shoots himself, or shits in his pants, or even orders a take-away curry...
well.. apart from "his", all of the words in that sentence that end with an "s" are present tense third-person singular verbs, so none of them are going to need an apostrophe before their terminal "s".
But of course if Custer decides to surrender, that is Custer's decision.
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Don't get me started on tense. More in conversation. " so we sits outside the pub, he gets out his......."
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