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Happy Lady
VIP Member
Ahem. First of all your should be you're (you are). You are incorrect with the rest. The apostrophe between Smith and s indicates the word IS, ie something that Mr Smith or his family would be doing. Where are say "Christmas at the Smith's" would therefore read "Christmas with the Smith is" which doesn't make any sense.
Are there circumstances where three would be more appropriate than five and vice versa?It bugs me so much I actually started casually dropping into conversation that the correct number of dots is either three or five (my personal preference is three) and that other variations are not correct grammar. Disappointingly nobody else seemed particularly interested
HoGi
VIP Member
I use early doors all the time. Mainly to refer to leaving work early!
They are different phrases with different meanings.
Specific and pacific drives me around the bend. They’re two totally different words, spellings, meanings! My husband says pacific when he means specific just to wind me up.
when I see mom instead of mum in the UK. But maybe this is a regional thing?
Very picky I know.
A genuine question - what IS the correct use of ‘myself’? I hate it being used to sound like a smartarse when ‘me’ or ‘I’ is grammatically appropriate but I can’t think of the correct context to use it?
when I see mom instead of mum in the UK. But maybe this is a regional thing?
Very picky I know.
A genuine question - what IS the correct use of ‘myself’? I hate it being used to sound like a smartarse when ‘me’ or ‘I’ is grammatically appropriate but I can’t think of the correct context to use it?
Scorpihoe
VIP Member
Because it annoys the shit out of me tooyes! how on earth could you guess?i listened to it today and she made a mistake with a very basic verb as well
I just wanna listen to the case god damn and I can’t concentrate because of all the grammatical errors 
mozzarellagirl
VIP Member
omg, in that new bank ad with David Tenant doing the voiceover, one of the women says, "Why does my card have no numbers on it?"
you really couldn't have worded that ANY better? ...for a bank with 56 million or whatever customers in the US? (i've seen the advert so many times lol it's clearly done its job)
you really couldn't have worded that ANY better? ...for a bank with 56 million or whatever customers in the US? (i've seen the advert so many times lol it's clearly done its job)
Fledgling Psycho
VIP Member
I seen what you mean
I still think anxiety fits both situations. "I had/have anxiousness" "I had/have anxiety. Argh. I just don't like the word.
Never heard of this expression before so I looked up both, and it said hanging punctuation is when the punctuation is outside the line of text?! Which apparently often happens when text is justified.Hey, I'm old and cranky. I'll join in.
I think the most common pet peeve I see is people who use quotation marks and then add the comma or period, leaving it floating. I never met a teacher who wasn't driven crazy by "floating punctuation."
This seems to be the biggest problem when using scare quotes. I know some might argue with me on this, and British quotations often leave punctuation floating. Too many Americans are ignorant though, not suddenly British.
Funnily enough, I tried to search for a few examples of improper quotation marks and only came up with this question:
I searched on the Internet what "floating punctuation" means but found absolutely nothing and when I enable it, I cannot see any changes through the text except for the number of pages.
But the funny part was the reply:
I've never heard of "floating punctuation", but I wonder whether it might mean "hanging punctuation".
I have to admit, I don't know if the original "floating punctuation" question had anything to do with what I mean, or if it was more of a programming issue. However, the reply having TWO EXAMPLES of incorrect quotations made me laugh.
When people seem really confused, I've even seen punctuation used before and after the quote: "What time is it?".
And finally, probably my biggest pet peeve right now, those who don't know the meaning of concerning. Language is constantly changing, yada, yada, yada, but that's my nails down a chalkboard moment.
I'd like for us to collectively slow down on the race to ignorance. On the other hand, I also wonder how many mistakes I made in just this one post. You live, you learn.
My understanding with punctuation and speech marks is that if it’s to punctuate the flow of the whole sentence it goes outside of the speech marks; if it pertains just to the quoted part, it goes inside. Explains it pretty well here: https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/does-punctuation-go-inside-or-outside-quotation-marks/
Milktray
VIP Member
Thank you! I aim to please! I still laugh about it now.Just bumping this up again! It’s still one of the funniest posts I’ve ever read. I commented on it a while ago.
Fortunately, I've never had to speak to her again!
Purrrrrrr
VIP Member
I would not mix up Jane/Jayne, Jackie/Jacqui but Micheal/Michael look to me to be the same. I only know they are not because you have used it as an example. I normally have to C&P names
Mollywobbles
VIP Member
A lot of people round here use “of cause” instead of “of course”
I suppose you could say ‘she was in a state of anxiousness’ might make more sense than ‘she was in a state of anxiety?’ Who knows hahaI seen what you mean
I still think anxiety fits both situations. "I had/have anxiousness" "I had/have anxiety. Argh. I just don't like the word.
Instagram Sham
Well-known member
I still don’t understand apostrophes (and I’m in my mid 30’s)
Someone please teach me….. ?
Someone please teach me….. ?
Al Fresco
VIP Member
This reminds me of that annoying Mike Bushell talking to Charlie Stayt on BBC Breakfast and referring to someone having a fiancé which he pronounced as FY ANSE
. Charlie Stayt couldn’t believe it. How can you be journalist and to have got to that age where you don’t know how to pronounce that? Can’t stand that show.