Talk properly you cretins

necronom · Post by **necronom** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:27 pm

Madge wrote:
necronom wrote:You need a "Punctuation Repair Kit", as found in "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" (the paperback edition).
I know of this book, but haven't read it. What is a Punctuation Repair Kit? Something to do with stickers? I suspect it's the sort of thing that would get you punched/arrested if you actually used it.

Yes, it's a sheet of stickers of different sizes that you put in the correct place when you see a mistake in a shop window, or some such place.

The Master · Post by **The Master** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 2:39 pm

Apostrophes in abbreviation plurals, ie. CD's, DVD's, is actually gramatically permitted, although CDs, DVDs etc is more common.

paranoid marvin · Post by **paranoid marvin** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 2:44 pm

The Master wrote:Apostrophes in abbreviation plurals, ie. CD's, DVD's, is actually gramatically permitted, although CDs, DVDs etc is more common.

I didn't know that DVD's was ok grammatically , although I've always thought i looked better than DVDs

Madge · Post by **Madge** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 2:49 pm

I've never seen anything that says it's OK to apostrophise plural acronyms. Here's a site which states the contrary:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Rhetoric_a ... apostrophe

The Master · Post by **The Master** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 2:52 pm

It's optional but increasingly being seen as incorrect. "Photo's" was once also a valid contraction for photographs; only Bill T'ick of Froth Barn in the Tilt would use that these days...

Madge · Post by **Madge** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 3:00 pm

Surely the apostrophe in "photo's" was meant to indicate the missing "graph" before "photo" became a commonly used word in its own right, it wasn't there simply to create a plural.

The Master · Post by **The Master** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 3:08 pm

Thing is, I was reading all about this just the other day, on a "proper web site" - something like the BBC, or similar - which is why it's fresh in my mind. CD's is OK, CDs though is more common (esp. in the US), and more commonly accepted by now; 1980's is also allowed, despite being "technically" wrong... I can't for the life of me remember where I read it now though...

Ultros · Post by **Ultros** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 4:46 pm

....Now I feel embarrassed

chewy · Post by **chewy** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 6:33 am

necronom wrote:
Madge wrote:People who say "I seen" instead of "I saw" deserve a slap.
But my all time number one pet hate is written rather than spoken - the misplaced apostrophe. Whenever I see that on a sign I have to fight an urge to find a marker pen and correct it.
You need a "Punctuation Repair Kit", as found in "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" (the paperback edition).

My girlfriend's copy of said book has a massive error on the FIRST PAGE, involving a word that shouldn't be there, so I can't take it seriously. Whether or not it was supposed to be there for you to notice I never found out, as I was so disgusted the author was preaching good grammar I threw the book down!

Sureshot · Post by **Sureshot** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 6:49 am

Dudley · Post by **Dudley** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 7:47 am

YES!

And there's plenty of offenders on this board damnit!

Dudley · Post by **Dudley** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 7:49 am

The Master wrote:CD's is OK

No. It isn't.

necronom · Post by **necronom** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 7:52 am

chewy wrote:My girlfriend's copy of said book has a massive error on the FIRST PAGE, involving a word that shouldn't be there, so I can't take it seriously. Whether or not it was supposed to be there for you to notice I never found out, as I was so disgusted the author was preaching good grammar I threw the book down!

I've just read the first page of the intro to the hardback, and I didn't notice anything wrong. You might be referring to a different page though.

The Master · Post by **The Master** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 9:20 am

Dudley wrote:
The Master wrote:CD's is OK
No. It isn't.

I agree it LOOKS wrong, feels wrong, and doesn't make sense. I'll bet large sums of money that it's actually permitted under English grammar though.

Then again, in Florida, having sex with animals is legal. Doesn't necessarily mean you should do it...

DrBlue · Post by **DrBlue** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 9:43 am

The apostrophe is (almost) always used to replace one or more letters. For instance:

Is not - Isn't
Does not - Doesn't
You are - You're

It is often also used to replace 'is' and denote belonging such as:

Dave's not home
Where is Dave's car

A mistake i often make is the possessive form of 'it' which should not have an apostrophe, for instance:

The dog ate it's dinner - is incorrect
The dog licked its nuts - is correct

An apostrophe can only be used in 'it's' when it is being used to replace 'it is.' So:

It's four o'clock - is correct
Its time to go - is incorrect

Apostrophes may never be used to denote plurals, therefore CD's is incorrect unless you are referring to something the CD owns or is a property of the CD. For example:

I have four CD's - is incorrect
This is the CD's first track - is correct

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