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| Thread ID: 23497 | 2002-08-17 10:29:00 | saterday news | tweak'e (174) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 72036 | 2002-08-18 04:54:00 | The apostrophe lowdown. Apostrophes are used to show where a word has been abbreviated to replace the mssing letters. e.g. do not = don't. They are also used to replace the word "of". For example: Tim's bike = The bike of Tim. It is not used for anything else (except sometimes as 'quotes'). Incorrectly I might add. If you use the apostrophe in the plural it goes after the "s". e.g. The company's truck = the truck of the company. The companies' trucks = the trucks of the companies. or The peoples' choice = the choice of the people. Lesson over. G P |
Graham Petrie (449) | ||
| 72037 | 2002-08-18 04:57:00 | "it is" ... (see above) :-) | Graham L (2) | ||
| 72038 | 2002-08-18 04:57:00 | In case you didn't realise, I was actually being semi-smart myself Graham P. For the record bad spelling irritates the hell out of me too (tweak'e excepting - he's the only one allowed to), while we are at it. Misplaced apostrophes are bad enough but my pet hate is nearly everyone's inability to differentiate between brought and bought, including some newspaper journalists. It happens all the time here. Brought is when someone brings something, eg He brought his computer to the repair shop. He brought his PC to the LAN party. Bought is when someone buys something, eg I bought a new computer at the PC Company. He bought a new flight sim game. I really wish people would get it right. Sorry for hijacking your post tweak'e. :O |
Susan B (19) | ||
| 72039 | 2002-08-18 05:19:00 | It's not really hijacked as it was a news post that didn't request a reply. Hence, we have not really hijacked the post as the news is likely to be read before all this mumbo-jumbo. My pet hate is the misuse of words that sound the same but have different meanings. I am referring to there, their, hair, hear, hare. The worst is hardwear - I can't stand that. Second pet hate is a lowercase I when referring to ones self in the first person. Hmmm, Sad day... :D G P |
Graham Petrie (449) | ||
| 72040 | 2002-08-18 05:59:00 | Graham, Some people have got so upset at the use of the apostrophe they have formed the apostrophe protection society. Well worth a look. http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk |
B.M. (505) | ||
| 72041 | 2002-08-18 23:33:00 | > The peoples' choice = the choice of the people. In this case "people's choice" would actually be the correct way of putting it, as the word "people" is the plural, not "peoples". Mike. |
Mike (15) | ||
| 72042 | 2002-08-19 03:44:00 | When I went to school the apostrophe was not used to replace "of" in Tim's bike. We were taught that it replaced He/His, Her/hers, Their/Theirs. Tim's bike was short for Tim, his bike. Has the system changed that much since the 40's? | Tom B. (864) | ||
| 72043 | 2002-08-19 04:05:00 | The apostrophe does not "mean" anything. It's a punctuation mark. It can, as in the last sentence, indicate elision (omission of a character or characters). It can be used to indicate the possessive, as in "Graham's pedantic spelling lessons". It never indicates plurality, as in "Banana's". Never mind. I am disinterested. But that does not mean that I am uninterested. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 72044 | 2002-08-20 03:44:00 | Yay! Opportunity for a bit of pedantry. The 's in "Tim's bike" is not a replacement for the word 'of' as "The bike of Tim" is not an English contruction but a transliteration of the possessive style of most other languages. The possessive 's is known as the 'saxon genitive' and comes from OE (Old English). PS The ' in "It's hot." indicating letter/s replaced is the contractual indicative. >>>Have a nice day. |
mark c (247) | ||
| 72045 | 2002-08-20 03:49:00 | To lower the level, and bring an end to this: "Saxon genitive" -- what a load of Saxon genitals we sometimes talk. That is, Balls. ;D | Graham L (2) | ||
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