Some people just have a mental block about these things (apostrophes, spelling, grammar, etc.)
some others...
use to
suppose to
try and
some others...
use to
suppose to
try and
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Rogue apostrophes
- Thread starter JBGoode
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No because in the scheme of things, its not a major issue. I live a more content and full-filling life when I don't worry about how other people write.
I wouldn't write the short form; one to twelve I write as words (unless I am texting in a hurry). Numbers with a higher value than twelve, I write numerically.
(And that little rule comes form the style guide we were encouraged to follow when I worked as an editor in the parliamentary debates office).
If you had to deal with this crap all day in your job from professional people you would worry about it because you can't escape it--especially when some of the worst offenders can barely string a sentence together and are above you in the food chain.
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I was about to say the same thing. It starts off raging, as any good grammarian would, and then explores the history of punctuation. This shows that language changes; the apostrophe was never properly defined; and there are better things to get worked up about.
It still bothers me, but less than it did after reading this book.
Thanks! This is better than the source I used below.Thank you for this.
I have often been tempted to start my own rant thread.
Unfortunately I cannot answer your question — "WHY?"
Though I suspect it is a combination of poor education/educators and auto-correct laziness.
I shall contribute these two:
And this one I came across on TripAdvisor while searching for a restaurant… why punctuation is so important.
[doublepost=1544953719][/doublepost]
A classic.
I’ve always thought the ‘s is used for an individual target, and although Smith Family is plural, Smith is one family so it would be the Smith’s or the Jones’s. Plural nouns are more complicated.
It’s versus its. I’m thinking the first is a contraction for it is, but the second is possession. (Its center).
Apostrophe Rules for Possessives
- Use an apostrophe + S ('s) to show that one person/thing owns or is a member of something. ...
- Use an apostrophe after the "s" at the end of a plural noun to show possession. ...
- If a plural noun doesn't end in "s," add an apostrophe + "s" to create the possessive form.
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They're asking how you write the plural of an iPhone 6. Such as ... I have three iPhone6s.
I know what they are asking; and to answer it in the way they would wish is not how I would choose to write English.
If they have a "mental hang-up", either employ someone who hasn't such a hang-up to write their/your professional material, or expect to be viewed with considerably less respect in a professional setting.
Professionally, if a company, firm or body you work for makes these mistakes, one assumes that they are sloppy, careless, imprecise, and profoundly unprofessional. This would have an impact on how I viewed them, professionally.
That does not surprise me.
But, if they submitted CVs littered with such errors, I wouldn't employ them, either.
I normally have an abundance of grammar/spelling/syntax pet peeves, but now that there's a thread to describe them, I'm having trouble thinking of any.
Genrally, I dislike it when you're arguing with somebody who is misusing a word. Especially when they're not entirely kind in their replies, it becomes frustrating to have somebody talk down to you without even using the right disparaging word.
I find proper nouns given to tech products especially difficult to fit into sentences; thay always include some number that isn't written out, and in the case of Apple, there's usually some stylization involved. (E.g. the rounded rectangle around the "S" and "R" in iPhones' names.)
Genrally, I dislike it when you're arguing with somebody who is misusing a word. Especially when they're not entirely kind in their replies, it becomes frustrating to have somebody talk down to you without even using the right disparaging word.
Interesting. I do the same with one through ten. It's always neat to see—what I presume are—vestiges of a time when our number systems were more duodecimal than decimal. Some numerists have argued the merit of switching back to dozenal counting, arithmetic, etc. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, ᘔ, Ɛ, 10) because 12 has more prime factors than ten, which doesn't sound important, but it can help with introducing concepts like multiplication to developing minds.
I find proper nouns given to tech products especially difficult to fit into sentences; thay always include some number that isn't written out, and in the case of Apple, there's usually some stylization involved. (E.g. the rounded rectangle around the "S" and "R" in iPhones' names.)
I used to do this with one through to ten, but the parliament insisted on writing eleven and twelve as words, as well, and so, as a consequence, this has become my own standard practice ever since.
[doublepost=1544976785][/doublepost]Perusing the contents of a reputable watch site recently, I came across a watch, on their Patek Philippe page, which offered for sale a model described as a "Ladies' Novelist".
Now, the watch in question, is, of course, the model that is known as a Ladies' Nautilus.
I am not impressed: If a company expects me (or any other purchaser) to part with a sum of money in excess of £20,000, or €20,000, or $20,000, then the least I can reasonably expect is that they get the name of the watch they are attempting to sell right.
If they are careless about such matters, it signals to me that they will be careless about other - perhaps more important - matters as well.
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That makes sense. Fittingly, eleven and twelve are also two numbers in the teens that have unique names. If we still weren't a little bit skewed towards the doz (a fresh new abbreviation of "the dozenal system" I'm hoping will attract a younger demographic), I guess it'd be, "one, … ten, firsteen, secondteen, thriteen…"
Roma locuta, causa finita est.
Two Apple iPhone 6S phones/units etc.
iPhone is never plural. Thus speaks Apple, Inc.
Apple's style guide, apparently, insists on:
"Trademarked product names: Form the plural of trademarked product names by adding the plural generic noun to the singular product name.
Correct: Mac computers, MacBook Pro computers, iMac computers
Incorrect: Macs, MacBook Pros, iMacs"
Link 1
Link 2
But who knows?
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How About The People Who Think What They Have To Say Is So Important That It Needs Odd First Letter Caps?
iPhone 6 smart phones?
iPhone 6s smart phones?
[doublepost=1544989369][/doublepost]
Well. Those are. All sentence fragments.' (...should start with "The" if you're wondering why I say that about the first one)And this one I came across on TripAdvisor while searching for a restaurant… why punctuation is so important.
Oh, that’s just classic.
I love the BIG “ass” MOVE’ING SALE.
Lawn-“mower” WTF?
Actually, that's not his real name. He's a tech guy and there is a possibility that he uses this forum so I just gave him a generic one. His name is not very common so he would have known immediately it was him and no sense making him feel bad. It's probably not likely but you never know.....
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My kids are in 7th and 5th grade, and my husband and I have pretty much taken it upon ourselves to teach our kids grammar, because it generally isn't happening in school at this point. There is a lot of focus on writing and making coherent and well though out papers, but the emphasis on grammar doesn't seem to be the same as when I was in school.
A previous post related to people not reading all that much these days.
The apostrophe and comma guy in my previous post has a son that was struggling reading at about grade 5. (We won’t even go there) I suggested he started reading books that he enjoyed. He couldn’t even fathom the idea that anyone would possibly choose to read for their entertainment. WOW.
No surprise there. Both parents didn’t read either.
I remember comma guy suggesting a book to me that he received from his dad. He must have suggested to me at least once a year for five years, always prefacing it with, he had just finished it. I would see it sitting, flipped over (we won’t go there) and spread open partly read. Yeah, right.
When I was a kid our family went out for dinner every Friday night and followed that with a trip to our local public library. I would always sneak in buying a new plastic model kit on these trips as well. Reading and bashing plastic is simply woven into the fabric of my life. Still doing them over fifty years later. (Boy, I really wanted to put fabric in quotation marks, but just couldn’t find my b****). S
The apostrophe and comma guy in my previous post has a son that was struggling reading at about grade 5. (We won’t even go there) I suggested he started reading books that he enjoyed. He couldn’t even fathom the idea that anyone would possibly choose to read for their entertainment. WOW.
No surprise there. Both parents didn’t read either.
I remember comma guy suggesting a book to me that he received from his dad. He must have suggested to me at least once a year for five years, always prefacing it with, he had just finished it. I would see it sitting, flipped over (we won’t go there) and spread open partly read. Yeah, right.
When I was a kid our family went out for dinner every Friday night and followed that with a trip to our local public library. I would always sneak in buying a new plastic model kit on these trips as well. Reading and bashing plastic is simply woven into the fabric of my life. Still doing them over fifty years later. (Boy, I really wanted to put fabric in quotation marks, but just couldn’t find my b****). S
Absolutely cannot disagree with the bolded. When one's grasp of grammar starts affecting the coherence of what they're saying, it becomes an issue, but what you said applies to the discussion so far.
However, I can no more choose to ignore my few grammar pet peeves than others can ignore the annoying sound it makes when somebody chews with their mouth open, is loud during a movie, or blasts their music publicly.
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