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Rena Ryuugu
Oyashiro-Sama
Thanks Tachi 
and bye
*waves*
and bye*waves*
Rena Ryuugu
Oyashiro-Sama
Hiya Chaos
ayase said:
"As" is fine. It's a plural "A" rather than a possessive.
You can say "A"s or 'A's or something if that looks clearer in context without it being too strange. "A's" just reads really weirdly to me :s
Sorry. Will bury my grammar fiend side back where it belongs. I like reading clear English, whether or not it's strictly perfect or not. The current use of apostrophes is a pet hate because I don't actually understand the vague rules people use for them at all. The original rules are quite simple and sticking to them stops my head breaking wondering why people stick them in plurals such as bee's, but not horse's, and CD's but not 'saddles. I like rules!
R
ayase
State Alchemist
But in the first example it could be misconstrued as the word 'as'. You use 'em to stand in for missing letters or to denote something which belongs to the word right? But not for plurals? So shouldn't it* be acceptable to use it in something like CD's because the apostrophe is replacing 'isc'? And then what about plurals which are the same as the singular? I always put one on the end of series' to show I'm talking about more than one series. I don't know where I got that from, but these things make no sense to me. There's only one set of rules I like: My own. Playing by other people's rules is for schnooks.Rui said:
I would like to see the English language simplified massively. There are too many rules and words should be spelled phonetically. I like to speak out as someone who does try and use language to the best of my abilities, but who still thinks it should be changed. It's not an attitude I encounter often and again it's one of these opinions I horrify many people with.
*There's a fine example: 'should not it' is terrible English anyway.
If in doubt, better to not use an apostrophe when you should have than to use one incorrectly. You can forget to use them in "don't", "can't" etc & noone will care. Just remember, apostrophe + the letter "S" at the end of a word means that it owns what comes after it.
Though having just noticed where you list as your location, you should be forgiven for your apostrophe abuse on account of your English being better than a lot of native English speakers I've seen.
Though having just noticed where you list as your location, you should be forgiven for your apostrophe abuse on account of your English being better than a lot of native English speakers I've seen.
MaxonTreik
Chuunibyou
Oh yay. Someone dropped spaghetti bolognase on the floor in the hall.
Rui said:
Nah- because there are such things as AS Levels, you wouldn't use "As", you'd use A's.
Rui said:
Okay...
Bee's =[the] Bee possesses
Bees' = More than one Bee possesses
Bee = A singular Bee
Bees = More than one Bee
Horse's = [the] Horse possesses
Horses' = More than one Horse possesses
Horse = A singular Horse
Horses = More than one Horse
The only real confusion is one something ends with a "s", like so:
Lotus = A Lotus
Lotuses = More than one Lotus
Lotus' = The Lotus is in possession of
Lotuses' = More than one Lotus is in possession of
Does that clarify things? I'm pretty sure the above is correct.
(I got an A in English Language if that helps)
chaos
The Boss
Like Ayase mentioned, what about words like series, which already has a(n?) 's' on the end of it?Spyro201 said:
Now, if apostrophes confuses you... =)
Anyway, I've learned that with acronyms, the apostrophes are used. That's why DVD's, CD's and so on should have it. Did I learn it wrong?
Will-O'-The-Wisp
Cardcaptor
skikes said:
...You beat me to it ;D
And no Chaos, that's correct
Zin5ki
Railgun
It might be the case that US English is more tolerant of pluralising acronyms using apostrophes than UK English. That is at least, in the case of acronyms pronounced only as a combination of letters, and not acronyms pronounced as words. (An example of the latter is laser, the pluralisation of which by means an apostrophe seeming somewhat odd.)
Problems arise however for cases such as this:
Problems arise however for cases such as this:
Here, omitting the apostrophes would perhaps make the sentence harder to interpret.
Zin5ki said:
You would write it as, "I often confuse my Fs with my PHs..." or, much more clearly, "I often confuse my 'F's with my 'Ph's..." (or the same with quote marks). I'm not sure why the humble single apostrophe was drafted in to be a catchall separator in this kind of case when ways of differentiating the text already exist; you're certainly right that a lot of people do it though.
Spyro201 said:
Nooooo! A's means it belongs to "A"; it's confusing and ambiguous to read. AS level exist but you can say As (note case change) or to be absolutely clear, you can highlight the object with paired marks such as "A"s or 'A's. I don't need things clarifying for actual English rules, just this new wave "simplification" of the apostrophe which seems to involve randomly peppering every sentence with the thing until it looks like a Klingon curry menu.
CD's and DVD's are wrong. CDs and DVDs are readable with or without the apostrophe there because of the use of upper and lower case.
ayase said:
Only if you want to start writing it as C'D's all the time. Which might be amusing as a protest of sorts at how convoluted English can be.
Mutsumi said:
I should leave it to him; this is good advice. Just wanted to correct the belief that I needed help with classical English grammar
R
fabio de lunatico
Claymore
I only got a B in English language at GCSE. Clearly examinations were more difficult back in 1997...