17 replies to this topic

[allthatjazz]

Pretty sure Guest Elin was talking about the missing apostrophe, i.e. it should be "theatre's most co[n]ve[r]ted role"

I'm assuming the online ticket sellers had copy ready to sent out and someone sent the wrong one. I did get a laugh out of "converted" though...

Yes I was talking about the - correctly - missing apostrophe too!

[Misplaced]

Yes I was talking about the - correctly - missing apostrophe too!

Don't think that's right - "theatre" in that sentence should be a singular noun that has been made possessive by the addtion of "'s", as in "the dog's bowl" or "the theatre's closing night".  As opposed to a possessive pronoun, like "the dog hurt its paw" (which does not have an apostrophe because "its" IS the possessive pronoun, and not "it's" which is the contraction for "it is").  I don't believe "theatre[']s" is functioning like an adjective (like Founders Day).

Anyway this is way off topic, happy to continue the conversation via PM.  Can't help it, I like grammar.

[Edited because although I like grammar, apparently I can't spell.]

[Matthew Winn]

Don't think that's right - "theatre" in that sentence should be a singular noun that has been made possessive by the addtion of "'s", as in "the dog's bowl" or "the theatre's closing night".

Correct.

It's time for a link to Bob's Quick Guide to the Apostrophe.

[Misplaced]

Correct.

It's time for a link to Bob's Quick Guide to the Apostrophe.

Heh. Maybe next we can talk about the difference between "which" and "that", restrictive vs nonrestrictive clauses....

[Misplaced]

I learned English at school. The apostrophe is very confusing as is English spelling in general. I use a very good spell and grammar checker but sometimes it doesn't know what I mean. If that is the case I just use another word.

Well I'm a native speaker and sometimes it confuses the heck out of me ... !

[Matthew Winn]

I use a very good spell and grammar checker but sometimes it doesn't know what I mean.

Grammar checkers are very unreliable. Many of the rules they're programmed with aren't actually rules of English at all, but non-rules that people mistake for rules. The "don't split infinitives" rule is one such, as is "never end a sentence with a preposition": both are grammatically fine. Another common non-rule is that "they" can never be used as a singular pronoun. "They" has been used as a singular neuter pronoun in English for centuries. Moreover, good grammar requires an understanding of the text which a grammar checker can't have.

As for spelling checkers, beware the Cupertino effect. (Language Log is a great site for people with an interest in linguistics.)

[Orchestrator]

Don't think that's right - "theatre" in that sentence should be a singular noun that has been made possessive by the addtion of "'s", as in "the dog's bowl" or "the theatre's closing night".  As opposed to a possessive pronoun, like "the dog hurt its paw" (which does not have an apostrophe because "its" IS the possessive pronoun, and not "it's" which is the contraction for "it is").  I don't believe "theatre[']s" is functioning like an adjective (like Founders Day).

I hope you've all been following the apostrophe controversy in Private Eye's "Pedant's Corner".

"Ones" feels strange, as in "Ones initial assumption might be... ".