Apostrophe S

[Catchoftheday]

I'm not claiming that the sentences are well-written; all I'm claiming is that the sentences are correct with the apostrophe used to indicate a plural. When writing a transcript of spoken remarks (for example, in a legal proceeding), the transcriber doesn't have the liberty of rephrasing the sentences (which is what you've suggested), and has to transcribe what was actually said.

Fair point, maybe a phonetic spelling would be a better alternative to a's, maybe ays?

 

[ManlyBanisters]

I have the same problem. I don't know if it's dyslexia or what, but I can proof-read a post twice, think all is ok, and then as soon as I post it I see errors.


Thanks. I have a question. Would the following be correct?-
"The economy has been sluggish for four years now; some signs of improvement are finally beginning to show." The co-ordinating conjunction 'but' has been removed.

I have avoided using semicolons in the past, maybe now I'll be more confident.

No - that would still be wrong, a comma would be correct. "The economy has been sluggish for four years now, some signs of improvement are finally beginning to show."

You're not alone in semi-colonophobia :wink: I'm fairly sure I misuse semi-colons from time to time. I try to minimise that by going with a comma when in doubt, or even finding another way altogether to write it.

Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but the apostrophe's value can be a possessive as well as a verb and shortening of words such as should not to shouldn't or cannot to can't without losing the contraction portion of it.

Chuck - I love you like a brother - but what in the name of peanut butter are you talking about?

Furst awf eye are reeley uppsets that's yo iz's gotted moor then won buycyckle's.!?.!

Second, and, much, more, important, is, what, you've, neglected, to, say,-that, it's, more, than, just, your, bicycle, which, goes, 'ding'.

(and how are you with commas?)

I think I just came a bit :redface:

 

[B_Nick8]

No - that would still be wrong, a comma would be correct. "The economy has been sluggish for four years now, some signs of improvement are finally beginning to show."

Although I'm sure you're correct (I'm usually pretty good but I'm too insecure about these things to disagree :wink, this still feels wrong to me as they feel like two independent clauses without a co-ordinating conjunction. I would have written it conjoining the two with "although"to avoid the issue entirely. Question: I sometimes have a problem with "it's" when I'm using it as a contraction of "it is". It occasionally looks wrong to me. I know "its'" is the possessive but it's as a contraction is always right, right?

 

[ManlyBanisters]

Although I'm sure you're correct (I'm usually pretty good but I'm too insecure about these things to disagree :wink, this still feels wrong to me as they feel like two independent clauses without a co-ordinating conjunction. I would have written it conjoining the two with "although"to avoid the issue entirely. Question: I sometimes have a problem with "it's" when I'm using it as a contraction of "it is". It occasionally looks wrong to me. I know "its'" is the possessive but it's as a contraction is always right, right?

Well- as I said avoiding the issue entirely with a rewriting is sometimes the only way to be sure. According to what I was taught what I said is accurate and it looks OK to me too. But I know what you mean.

Yes, "it's" ALWAYS means "it is", or to answer what you actually asked "it is" is contracted as "it's", and "its" is the possessive form.

 

[B_Monster]

I's this'''' an extens'ion of the rudenes''s'' in threads'''' thread.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

Fuck off, Mon'ster. :wink:

:booty:

 

[B_Monster]

Fuck off, Mon'ster. :wink:

:booty:

Yes, my bitchiness:smile:

 

[B_Lightkeeper]

I admit....I'm the world's (see what I mean?) worst (worse?) misusing the "s". I'll try to do better.

I'd like to suck Monster's cock. Is that better? :biggrin1:

 

[B_Monster]

I admit....I'm the world's (see what I mean?) worst (worse?) misusing the "s". I'll try to do better.

I'd like to suck Monster's cock. Is that better? :biggrin1:

I'm not very good with my ssssssssssssssss''''''''''''''''''s either but, I don't give a fuck so, suck away.

 

[tguy]

ye's it's true's

 

[FleshlightMouth]

Well yeah - but that's shows applied intelligence, plus it is intentional. Also 'd is a vallid form, allbeit archaic - 'd used to be the form for any past tense ending where the writer wanted to convey that it should be pronounced without the 'e'. so here, in To his Coy Mistress, Marvell used 'preserv'd' to let the reader know not to read it as pre-ser-vEd but as pre-servd:
My echoing song; then worms shall try
That long preserv'd virginity

:smile:

spelllllllllllllcheck!

Other grievances:

they're, their, there
its, it's
using everybody or everyone with a PLURAL possessive
(as in: everybody should mind *their own business... hurts to even type it)

But then maybe we should all get back to talking about big cocks

 

[marleyisalegend]

I haven't read through this thread, but isn't the acception to the rule: its and it's? I always forget which one is possessive, I just know that one of the two breaks a rule.

 

[killerb]

I have a friend who emails me & when she mentions her "kid's" I say "your kid's what?"

then she gets it...:wink:

 

[FleshlightMouth]

It's a pain (it is)
His ass should have its own zip code (possessive)

 

[ManlyBanisters]

Well yeah - but that's shows applied intelligence, plus it is intentional. Also 'd is a vallid form, allbeit archaic - 'd used to be the form for any past tense ending where the writer wanted to convey that it should be pronounced without the 'e'. so here, in To his Coy Mistress, Marvell used 'preserv'd' to let the reader know not to read it as pre-ser-vEd but as pre-servd:
My echoing song; then worms shall try
That long preserv'd virginity

:smile:

spelllllllllllllcheck!

:lmao:

I knew I was going to do that in this thread of all paces - I typed that with about 4 seconds to go before having to fuck off out and didn't proofread - the "that's" was a leftover from a edit from 'that's showing' to 'that shows', 'vallid' must have been a typo and I constantly type 'allbeit' despite knowing there should only be 1 l.

Other grievances:

they're, their, there
its, it's
using everybody or everyone with a PLURAL possessive
(as in: everybody should mind *their own business... hurts to even type it)

But then maybe we should all get back to talking about big cocks

Actually, I think "everybody should mind *their own business" comes from the use of 'they' as a neutral singular pronoun. I hate the use of 'they' as a neutral singular pronoun fullstop - but I have become guilty of it because people respond oddly if one uses 'one', 'he/she' is clumsy, 'you' can be misconstrued and sometimes one just has to use something neutral and that has pretty much become accepted grammar.

 

[DC_DEEP]

Oooh! Oooh! How's this, my porcine princess:

We can officially petition the Arbiters of English Language Propriety to christen the apostrophe-s as a letter in it's (!) own right!

Like other Romance languages that have adopted letter combinations and diacriticized (!) letters as part of the alphabet! Like in Spanish, they have ch, ll, ñ, and rr! We could add 's as one of ours!

 

[marleyisalegend]

It's a pain (it is)
His ass should have its own zip code (possessive)

Are there any cute phrases to remember that "its" is the one that breaks the rule of possession??

 

[ManlyBanisters]

Are there any cute phrases to remember that "its" is the one that breaks the rule of possession??

I don't think so - but when I was a kid I used to remember it by thinking about the other possessive pronouns - my, yours, his, hers, ours, yours, theirs - none of those have an apostrophe, so why would its?

 

[WifeOfBath]

No - that would still be wrong, a comma would be correct. "The economy has been sluggish for four years now, some signs of improvement are finally beginning to show."

I disagree with your assessment. It's still a bit of a run-on sentence in this case. I'd just break it into two related sentences because it's comprised of separate but related thoughts.

"The economy has been sluggish for four years now. However, some signs of improvement are finally beginning to show."

 

[FleshlightMouth]

Oooh, oooh, and I forgot the WORST of all:

The use of the possessive case where it is just wrong (as an overcompensation of being corrected too many times for using it instead of the nominative...)

Our neighbors invited my husband and I to a dinner party.

Cringe!!!


As long as we're all trying to keep the modicum of grammar intact that English still claims as part of its language structure, we should relax... this is sooooo much easier than French, German, Spanish etc. where verb endings, cases, plural forms and other exotic critters are still a much more "required" component