I'm likely to call them spuds and toms to avoid Dan Quale's infamous mistake. Took me forever to get the hang of 'tomorrow' as well. Too many years as a sub-editor I guess.
Shouldn't toms be tom's, as it is the abbreviated form ?
why should James have to stick his apostrophe at the end of his name, just because it already ends in s? He should be allowed to keep his own s, and add another one, just like everyone else does. No one else has to use one of their own letters.
It's the whole your/you're thing that gets me really steamed up...
what i do is say it to myself. so i say your and you are, and the one that sounds right i use. (don't do it out loud or people will think you're a nut case)
Let it go....the English language is formed from a corruption of others....it's dynamic and I will continue to do my part in corrupting it further and keep it as a work in progress.
That's my number two gripe, after apostrophes. But the worst time is when I find myself doing it. Then I have to sit down with a really strong cup of coffee and count to ten.
This topic makes me laugh, but also makes me remember I'm still learning. I'm always welcome to corrections. :)
I don't understand why some people write 'to' instead of 'too', 'there' instead of 'their'. There's more, but these are the ones I see most of the time, especially in forums and irc. :)
Oh, and then there are those who write everything in lower case and without any punctuation, or periods where there should be question marks, etc. Sometimes I have a hard time deciphering the messages. :grin:
Comments
'well saved' :p
how long do you need in future?
you quoted me quite quickly b4 i had time to edit.
I haven`t got an advanced mode :( I think that`s where I go wrong :lol:
I`ve got :-
Sober
Drunk
Silly
Stupid
and asleep.
and stoned ;)
Et tu? I myself have got the hang of 'tomorrow' until recently. And oh, in your 30 second edit fix you missed 'excessive'. ;)
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
You have apostrophe's when it should just be apostrophes.
...or was that on purpose?
Shouldn't toms be tom's, as it is the abbreviated form ?
No; tom's would mean something belonging to tom.
No that would be Tom's with a capital T.
Example if Tom was a greengrocer - Tom's tomatoes.
Or if Tom was a drummer Tom's tom-toms.
Time to stop...................
Erm, you originally quoted:
"Shouldn't toms be tom's, as it is the abbreviated form ?"
That looks very much like a lower case 't' to me. Hence why I also used a lower case 't' in my reply.
And anyway, the original context of 'tom' wasn't as a proper noun, as it was to do with tomatoes, so no capital letter was required.
The only way to fix improper usage these days would be to remove it and replace it with at least three new punctuation marks.
AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!! NOOOOOO!
I share Andrew's apostrophe abuse distress.
Strangley, I also share his difficulty with the word 'tomorrow'. Every time I want to write it I try hard to get the spelling right...
...but tomorrow never comes.
I'll get my coat...
C.
or why not...
James's torch.
why should James have to stick his apostrophe at the end of his name, just because it already ends in s? He should be allowed to keep his own s, and add another one, just like everyone else does. No one else has to use one of their own letters.
Poor fella, I bet he feels all singled out.
It's the whole your/you're thing that gets me really steamed up...
what i do is say it to myself. so i say your and you are, and the one that sounds right i use. (don't do it out loud or people will think you're a nut case)
or i just write ur
"British Airways Fine"
I don't expect they are fine after being found guilty of price-fixing... ;-)
Surely that should either be "British Airways' Fine" or "British Airways Fined".
Cheers, Simon
If you don''''''t like it don''''t read it!
and why does the dictionary contain the word 'dictionary'. the spelling is on the front of the book, and why would you look for the meaning???
Color/colour
Theater/theatre
Center/centre
check/cheque
ass/arse
Small furry creature from Alpha Centuri/Bill Oddie
etc.
Oh the date thing got me in a lot of trouble at first too...
Here it's month/day/year there it's day/month/year. (8/1/07 Aug 1st here is Jan 8th there)
so filling forms/checks out can be problematic if I go on autopilot.
ha ha, how much out of date milk have you drunk.
I wish i had your type of stress !
it's - its
too - two - to
and some other's i's donnot remembers' n'o'w's. Those DO (wasn't it DO'S? -Ed) get on my nerves...
D'oh!
*pick's ap'ostroph'es from floor and runs*
love - lust
I find determining the meaning of sober and pissed a little blurred at times.
yes and no often hold a challenge for me at times too:D
I don't understand why some people write 'to' instead of 'too', 'there' instead of 'their'. There's more, but these are the ones I see most of the time, especially in forums and irc. :)
Oh, and then there are those who write everything in lower case and without any punctuation, or periods where there should be question marks, etc. Sometimes I have a hard time deciphering the messages. :grin:
:lol: