Grammar pedants - help please.
1 lurker |
97 watchers
Aug 2016
11:00am, 29 Aug 2016
12,050 posts
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RichHL
"He or she" can sound clumsy and "s/he" is just awful. I much prefer "they" although that isn't wholly satisfactory either.
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Aug 2016
11:11am, 29 Aug 2016
12,107 posts
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Dvorak
Maybe it's suggesting "pemmican" as it is giving you something to chew over?
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Aug 2016
9:38pm, 29 Aug 2016
11,074 posts
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Columba
 I think s/he is ok in writing; depending, perhaps, on the type of writing. Unpronounceable in speech, of course. |
Sep 2016
9:50am, 6 Sep 2016
6,950 posts
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GordonG
this was a link posted on the 'jokes' thread, but it really needs to go here... i.imgur.com |
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Sep 2016
11:46am, 6 Sep 2016
11,124 posts
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Columba
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Sep 2016
9:56pm, 6 Sep 2016
750 posts
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beebop
Help, please! Punctuation question - I'm trying to explain why "Some people you can live with, some you can't. She's one of the can't's" is incorrect. It is reported speech, and I'm sure the second inverted comma shouldn't be present, but never having had a thorough education in punctuation I cannot come up with anything more convincing than the assertion that said second inverted comma is not representing an elision. Am I right?
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Sep 2016
10:11pm, 6 Sep 2016
27,386 posts
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JenL
I think you mean the second apostrophe. The inverted commas (speech marks) are fine. In your sentence, you've made "can't" into a plural, so it doesn't need another apostrophe before the final s because there is no grammatical possession and, as you point out above, nothing has been missed out. The correct version should be: "Some people you can live with, some you can't. She's one of the can'ts" |
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Sep 2016
10:42pm, 6 Sep 2016
11,134 posts
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Columba
Agreed. Looks awkward, but is correct.
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Sep 2016
11:33pm, 6 Sep 2016
12,122 posts
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Dvorak
Are you really wanting to call "her" a "can't"? Maybe depends if it's a Lahndahn audience or not. |
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Sep 2016
11:37pm, 6 Sep 2016
12,123 posts
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Dvorak
I just loled as GordonG's link. Now I'm tortured over "loled" and "lolled", but. |
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