Remember Dr ATKINS!!!!!!!!!!!

In article 1064885608.640989@muldoon,
"Supergoof" wrote:

"Wayne Crannell" wrote ...

Or when you see the double "s" apostrophe in a name...

"Mrs. Rivers's cat." is not correct, at least in American English (which
I admit is not the first option for proper language usage). More
precisely, it should be "Mrs. Rivers' cat."

I thought it was optional, you could choose either Mrs Rivers' cat or Mrs
Rivers's cat. Personally I prefer the former, it's less messy.


I think that is most likely, and I agree with you about the messiness. I
wonder if it might be the case that American vs. British usage could be
different?
--
Wayne Crannell

In article 1064885708.582961@muldoon,
"Supergoof" wrote:

"Jean B." wrote ...
Supergoof wrote:

I have one particular person at work who sends me copy and she just
loves to
stick words together - like water main = watermain, road milling =
roadmilling, and so on.

But then some organisations are well known for making up words. It
wouldn't
be so bad if they didn't then become common throughout the organisation.
Disbenefit is one.

Words do evolve. Frequently something will start out as two
words, then the two words will be hyphenated, and eventually they
are done as one word.

bah humbug ... I don't have to like it though

) ) )


Rachel
(New Zealand)



And since you are into neatness, how about the use of quotation marks?
The period goes inside of the quotes, but the question mark goes
outside. Someone explain that one!
--
Wayne Crannell

In article ,
Wayne Crannell wrote:

In article 1064885708.582961@muldoon,
"Supergoof" wrote:

"Jean B." wrote ...
Supergoof wrote:

I have one particular person at work who sends me copy and she just
loves to
stick words together - like water main = watermain, road milling =
roadmilling, and so on.

But then some organisations are well known for making up words. It
wouldn't
be so bad if they didn't then become common throughout the organisation.
Disbenefit is one.

Words do evolve. Frequently something will start out as two
words, then the two words will be hyphenated, and eventually they
are done as one word.

bah humbug ... I don't have to like it though

) ) )


Rachel
(New Zealand)



And since you are into neatness, how about the use of quotation marks?
The period goes inside of the quotes, but the question mark goes
outside. Someone explain that one!

Yeah, I have major problems with that. I never know what to do. What if
you're asking a question quoting somone making a statement? Or if you're
asking a question quoting someone asking a question?

Did he say "I want a new car"?
Did he say "I want a new car?"
Did he say "I want a new car."?

Did she say "Do you want fries with that?"
Did she say "Do you want fries with that"?
Did she say "Do you want fries with that?"?

I have no idea about the above examples, except that the last one in the
second group makes logical sense to me but it looks totally wrong. Help
please! I'm about 10 years too late for this to be useful on the SAT, but
I still want to know.

--
-Michelle Levin (Luna)
http://www.mindspring.com/~lunachick
http://www.mindspring.com/~designbyluna

Wayne Crannell wrote:

In article ,
Luna wrote:

Or when you see the double "s" apostrophe in a name...

"Mrs. Rivers's cat." is not correct, at least in American English (which
I admit is not the first option for proper language usage). More
precisely, it should be "Mrs. Rivers' cat."

But my latest coma-inducing Sign of the Apolcalypse is that in front of
a motel in my town,

"Newly Remodeled Sweets"

Perhaps they are experimenting with a new LC dessert menu.

Rivers's isn't correct? That's odd. How do you differentiate between
Rivers single and River plural possesive, then? Man, English is weird.

I was referring to when the name has an "s" at the end. Technically, you
do not add the apostrophe and then another "s" to show possession. I
suppose it gets sticky if you have multiple Mrs. Rivers. "Mrs. Rivers'
cats" is problematic, isn't it. Maybe the 2nd "s' is correct then. Come
on....we need a true expert here!

Pastorio with the English degree at your service. Rivers's is correct
(if awkward to speak) according to all my sources, good and bad.
Strunk & White. Readers' Digest style manual. Elements of Grammar -
Margaret Schertzer (good little book). Mrs. Lynch, 8th grade, stern
taskmaster best English teacher ever (She corrected the grammar in our
textbook.).

Some newspapers have advocated not adding the second "s" as part of a
program to "simplify" the language. That's why you'll see stupid words
like "employe." And, another one I don't like, elimination of the
second consonant in adding a suffix - "traveling" rather than the
traditional "travelling."

This English she is a hardly language to learning, either.

Pastorio

well that is something I will stay away from.

to me just the opposite. top posting to me is proper etiquite (sp) and form
in this medium.

bottom posting is ineffecient, rude, annoying, and uneeded.

bottom posting is simply wrong to me. I hate having to wade through them. it
wastes so much times its insane.

if you want more of my take on this from a technical and historical aspect
read my message in the nintendo forum or i will repost it (its big)

otherwise I will drop this discussion since its like religion and tends to
get people very heated. hence why I do not bug people about their bottom
posting.

the agravation of scrolling through line after line of text I just read is
better than making enemies.

so I live with bottom posters.

Chris Taylor
http://www.nerys.com/



"The Queen of Cans and Jars" wrote in message
...
Chris Taylor Jr wroteg:

I do not even know WHERE I learned that word. but its been so long that
it
is very difficult to retrain myself not to use it.

try harder.

also, top posting sucks. you should retrain yourself not to do that
either.

Wayne Crannell wrote:

And since you are into neatness, how about the use of quotation marks?
The period goes inside of the quotes, but the question mark goes
outside. Someone explain that one!

Um, no. The rule in American English is that if the word should have
punctuation after it (were it not in quotes) the punctuation goes
inside. This is one of the big differences between British English and
American English. But it looks peculiar to me. The nice policeman
asked me "Do you know how fast you were going?"

So if the question is being quoted, the mark goes inside.

When the QM isn't part of the quotation, it goes outside. Like this:
Who invented the expression (for people who correct your grammar)
"Bite me"?

Next, we'll consider the semi-colon. I've known a few of them over the
years.

Pastorio

I think that comes down to syllables (sp)

1995 has 4 parts. Nine Teen Ninety Five

2003 only has 3. two thousand three.

so it sounds "odd" or "wrong" to people so they insert what makes sense for
a 4th part.

two thousand and three.

I think that is what that occurs so often.

Chris Taylor
http://www.nerys.com/

"Mary Sue Williams" wrote in message
om...
"Sharon too" wrote in message
...
My personal pet peeve in this forum is that people are attempting to
"loose
weight."

My own contribution to this thread, and a personal pet peeve:

People who combine the following two words: A LOT
into alot.

"I eat alot of carbs..." Whereas I don't ever see this: "I eat afew
carbs..."

-Sharon whew... feel better

Here's the one that's driving me crazy. It's the year stated as
two-thousand AND three. You even hear this on TV and radio. No one
said nineteen and ninety-nine! I've been trying to figure out what
year it might stop. Maybe two-thousand eleven will become
twenty-eleven.

Mary Sue

Exactly posting to the internet gets compared with writing but that is an
incorrect analogy to me.

I compare it with speaking and not just speaking but casual chit chat.

I like to use grrrr forgot the word for :? AHH Punctuation (brain fart)
and CAPS to express emotion and "emphasis" that is otherwise difficult in
type but easy in speech.

Chris Taylor
http://www.nerys.com/

"Lorelei" wrote in message
ink.net...
My posts are pretty much just a free flow of thought. I speak much more
grammatically than I type out here. it's like a no big deal thing. I don't
like to capitalize much either. so sometimes I do and sometimes I don't
= }



Lori

"Wayne Crannell" wrote ...
"Supergoof" wrote:

I thought it was optional, you could choose either Mrs Rivers' cat or
Mrs
Rivers's cat. Personally I prefer the former, it's less messy.

I think that is most likely, and I agree with you about the messiness. I
wonder if it might be the case that American vs. British usage could be
different?

I generally try and stick with British usage (we did, after all, have our
origins as a British colony), but I do put the punctuation inside the
quotes/speech marks which is apparently a US thing.


cheers
Rachel
(New Zealand)

"Luna"wrote ...

In a chat room once, a guy used a word like "wonderlicious" and someone
else said "That's not a real word! That's a made up word!" The guy
replied
"All words are made up."


OOh now that's in serious danger of blowing my tiny little mind!

)

Rachel
(New Zealand)