English

[helenwyler]

Children are plural, therefore the apostrophe goes after the s. If it was "the child's book", it would go before. It's not a hard rule to understand. My personal hate is "he was sat" instead of "he was sitting".

Not true, HV . It should be "the children's book". Google The Children's Society .

A general rule of thumb is:

1. Find the owner - the children

2. Add the apostrophe - the children'

3. Add s if there isn't one already - the children's

Similarly 'the men's suits' and 'the women's coats'. Apostrophe before the s even though they are plural nouns.

Also 'a wolf in sheep's clothing' and 'wolves in sheep's clothing' - same position of apostrophe as you can't have sheeps .

[Vistravi]

It's not really nit picking, is it? I'm saying: "A is right, and B is right, but what do you prefer?". Nit picking would be me pointing out that grammar is spelt with 2 as, not an a and an e, and that Alan16 really deserves a capital as it is a proper noun, and also seeing as it is my name it isn't really open to interpretation with the spelling, so there shouldn't really be a space between the Alan and the 16. That would be nit picking.

How do you know i didn't spell your name like that on purpose now?

Good answer by the way, what i expected.

[George Brims]

It's a bit of a laugh for a Welshman in Caithness reading a thread about the correct pronunciation's of English. (Or is it pronunciations?)

In "The Silver Darlings" (I think) a young Gaelic speaker from Dunbeath goes to Wick to seek out a doctor, and is worried about his English. When he gets there, he is pleasantly surprised to find his English is no worse than those living there.

[George Brims]

Also 'a wolf in sheep's clothing' and 'wolves in sheep's clothing' - same position of apostrophe as you can't have sheeps .

Nonsense - my dad had hundreds of sheeps! (I hate sheeps as a result, unless they come with gravy and tatties.)

[George Brims]

That is the single most hideous sentence I've ever seen.

My worst ever sentence (spoken by my dad). "Here, your hands are small, come and get the afterbirth oot o this coo." I still shudder at the memory of that afternoon. The phrase "in the firing line" crops up too.

This whole thread has been too hoity-toity. Have I lowered the tone far enough yet?

[Alan16]

My worst ever sentence (spoken by my dad). "Here, your hands are small, come and get the afterbirth oot o this coo." I still shudder at the memory of that afternoon. The phrase "in the firing line" crops up too.

This whole thread has been too hoity-toity. Have I lowered the tone far enough yet?

You've put me off the KitKat I was eating, that is for certain.

[The Pepsi Challenge]

For me, the apostrophe has become a bit of a greedy, over-protective, overly possessive punctuation mark in recent times. Apostrophe, however, is also one of my favourite Frank Zappa album.

[Metalattakk]

For me, the apostrophe has become a bit of a greedy, over-protective, overly possessive punctuation mark in recent times. Apostrophe, however, is also one of my favourite Frank Zappa album.

The much maligned apostrophe is not as over-used as the redundant comma though, is it Pepsi.

[The Pepsi Challenge]

The much maligned apostrophe is not as over-used as the redundant comma though, is it Pepsi.

Granted; though, the comma, is, for me, kind of a bad habit: like smoking, or licking the dinner plate, clean.

[Metalattakk]

You're needing some semi-colonic irrigation too.

[spurtle]

My other pet hate is the over-use of the hyphen.
36-year-old mother-of-two etc etc in almost every newspaper article. OK, the first part adds up to an adjective, and is to some extent excused, the following has no need to be hyphenated.

I think my generation was probably the last to have formal grammar at primary school - do others remember analysing sentences - I loved it, as I like pulling things apart and putting them back together again. Language is so structured, it is almost mathematical, and like all such systems - music etc, an understanding of the structure is essential to being able to produce great literature, music, maths.

The beautiful subjunctive - who uses it now - it is the moinor key of language, which cannot be described, but immediately creates the mood.
"If music be the food of love ... " : try replacing "be" with "is" - not the same, is it?

It is a great pity to throw all of that out, and most teachers (who are pretty well all younger than I), would not know how to teach good grammar, having not been brought up with it.

We even had a skipping game that went :

John Sinclair* is a noun,
parse him up and parse him down
singular number, hopeless case
according to his ugly face

* no-one in particular!

[The Pepsi Challenge]

You're needing some semi-colonic irrigation too.

And you ken where you can put your full stops, buster.

[Metalattakk]

I must admit, I am rather fond of the liberal use of elliptical aposiopesis...

[crayola]

That is the single most hideous sentence I've ever seen.

Flattery will get you nowhere with me young man. There's more hideous on this forum every day.

I must admit, I am rather fond of the liberal use of elliptical aposiopesis...

Me too but please don't apply it to your beating heart---it can be dangerous...or so they say....

[scotsboy]

If that is the case (and I'm not entirely sure it is - it certainly wasn't when I was taught English) then the world is going to hell in a handcart.

Not sure how old you are Metalattack...........but I think I am older, and this certainly was when Miss Mackenzie taught me at Thurso High School.

[crayola]

This is slightly off topic but I enjoyed the following excerpt from an interview with George Gunn that I came across when reading the thread about Pepsi's review of a recent play....

AJ: Did you go to Thurso for high school?

GG: Yes, and that was important, because I had an inspirational teacher there called Margaret Gunn, or as we used to call her, Granny Gunn. She came from Keiss originally, and her husband and some of her family were lost at sea in a herring drifter, I think less than a week after her marriage. The tragedy was also a liberation for her, though, because she then went off to Edinburgh University and studied Classics, but if the tragedy hadn’t happened, she would probably have spent her days in Keiss. She came back and taught at Thurso High School, and she was great one for local history and also things like The Iliad and The Odyssey.

I remember Margaret Gunn and I'd been told she'd lost her husband very young but I didn't know anything else about her. She didn't like me and always made me sit in the front row where she could keep an eye on me. The feeling wasn't mutual but I made sure I got an A in O Grade English just to spite her.

October 2005 Interview: George Gunn Part 1 and Part 2. The extract is from Part 2.

[Metalattakk]

Not sure how old you are Metalattack...........but I think I am older, and this certainly was when Miss Mackenzie taught me at Thurso High School.

Miss Lyall (Mrs Doake?), Mrs Omand and good ol' "Handlebars" Clarke, in my day. I can't remember a Miss Mackenzie at all.

Not sure basic grammar and all that wasn't taught in primary school though.

[crayola]

IIRC Miss Mackenzie lived on Sir John Square, on the side opposite Durran's but I wasn't taught by her either.

[John Baikie]

It's not really nit picking, is it? I'm saying: "A is right, and B is right, but what do you prefer?". Nit picking would be me pointing out that grammar is spelt with 2 as, not an a and an e, and that Alan16 really deserves a capital as it is a proper noun, and also seeing as it is my name it isn't really open to interpretation with the spelling, so there shouldn't really be a space between the Alan and the 16. That would be nit picking.

This is the funniest post on here for some time

[dietcokegirl]

IIRC Miss Mackenzie lived on Sir John Square, on the side opposite Durran's but I wasn't taught by her either.

Miss Mackenzie is now Mrs. McLean i think.