Grammar that makes you cringe

[Cudzoziemiec]

Augustu's is Mr Gloops' childs'es name!

[Wowbagger]

Oxford Dictionary and I agreed in 100% of the "trick" set.

In the "devilishly difficult" set, the dictionary got two wrong.

[hellymedic]

Oxford Dictionary and I agreed in 100% of the "trick" set.

In the "devilishly difficult" set, the dictionary got two wrong.

I got 10 for the 'tricky' set and 7 for the 'difficult' set. I have scant English qualification. (O Level 1973, Use of English ?1975)
I thought apostrophe placement and use of an 's' for possessives terminating with 's' was acceptable in two forms, as in St James' Park or St James's Park.

[tiermat]

My score matches, exactly, Helly's

[Wowbagger]

I think you get into the "dark arts" when it comes to "the number of m's in 'recommend'" or whether DJ'ing needs an apostrophe, or in dates eg the 1940s (1940's).

If it's DJ'ing, then why not D'J'ing, or, for that matter, D.J.ing?

For the apostrophe, a succinct flow diagram could be written for normal use, as in possessives, both singular and plural, and where a letter is missing. To my mind, where two words (disc jockey, member of parliament) have been abbreviated to their initials, then a full stop represents the removal of multiple letters, the apostrophe just the one.

Is there an accepted set of rules for these anomalies, or do we just muddle through?

[Riggers]

… and 70s for that matter too, which is acceptable rather than slavishly apostrophising '70s which, may be apostrophisingly* correct, but everyone knows, through constant use without the apostrophe if fine.


*sorry for that.

[hellymedic]

Maybe our resident ex-English teacher could enlighten us!
I suspect we might not have really been wrong!

[Ian H]

Obsolete apostrophes: 'bus, p'ram, 'phone.

[PhilO]

I still insist on 'phone, personally, although I concur wrt the other two. 

[jsabine]

Shouldn't it be p'ram' ?

[Ian H]

Shouldn't it be p'ram' ?

Probably, though I've only ever read it with one.

[L CC]

Back to the verbs.

"She's back now because Helen come back tomorrow don't she".

No she fecking doesn't- she comes.

Bloody Suffolk.

[Wowbagger]

I've often seen 'cello but never piano'.

[red marley]

Attaching technically correct apostrophes to commonly abbreviated words like piano, cello, bus just seems a bit "I'm smarter than you" to me. A bit like insisting on a circumflex in rôle or complaining about words that mix latin and Greek etymology (as seen on TV). Nobody likes a wiseacre.

[Ian H]

Attaching technically correct apostrophes to commonly abbreviated words like piano, cello, bus just seems a bit "I'm smarter than you" to me. A bit like insisting on a circumflex in rôle or complaining about words that mix latin and Greek etymology (as seen on TV). Nobody likes a wiseacre.

To be pedantic, I think you mean 'pedantic'.

[ian]

Back when I worked in publishing I used to refer to such things as excessive grammar pedantry and insistence on writing stuff like 'reflexion' and putting apostrophes before bus as knobeditry. I'm pleased to see it's still going strong.

[citoyen]

Is there an accepted set of rules for these anomalies, or do we just muddle through?

This is what we have style guides for - where there is more than one 'correct' answer, the style guide will help you choose consistently.

[orienteer]

Quote from a BBC feature on bromine:
Because the bromine is itself so hyper-reactive, in effect it cue-jumps the oxygen and re-bonds with the fuel, rendering it inert.

[hellymedic]

Is cue-jumping done by snooker players?

[Ian H]

There'll be people cueing up to take a pot-shot at the BBC.

[mattc]

www.thepoke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/10678640_799754660064829_4742930850410394747_n.jpg

[hellymedic]

www.thepoke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/10678640_799754660064829_4742930850410394747_n.jpg

Classic!

[Euan Uzami]

heard the other day: "that bar's a right dive, I frequented it once and never went back!"

[mattc]

www.thepoke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/10678640_799754660064829_4742930850410394747_n.jpg

Classic!

I could have posted it in the
Saw This and Thought of You/Helly

thread 

[T42]

One that pops up more and more is the confusion of number, along the lines of "a thousand people scratched their head".  I see several examples of this every day now, it seems.