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Amen. (Reply to this comment)
by _morphine
You sir, are a hero.
I visit a forum quite frequently for a game I play, and there is this one girl who constantly has to use apostrophes in her sentences. It's almost like she has an addiction to using them, and I am quite seriously pondering the idea of sending her the link to your writeup - just so she can learn the proper use of an apostrophe.
I mean, hey - I'm no grammar buff or anything, but when people just generally type and/or write like total douchebags, I want to end them. Seriously.. I can't wait until these people raise children who can't spell or use proper punctuation because their parents are total douches. Hopefully the entire [half-assed] English-speaking population can learn something from this writeup, because in my opinion, apostrophes are the most commonly misused punctuation.
Thanks for the little Opinion!
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Feb 18, 2008
4:12 pm PST
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My pet hate of broken English, very well put (Reply to this comment)
by smjg
As long as people are'nt (oops, aren't) going to come up with the possessive "it's" by hypercorrection.
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Jun 9, 2003
6:35 am PDT
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I second the motion! (Reply to this comment)
by adelaideb
Thanks for writing about one of my pet peeves. If it's anal to protest misused apostrophes, then I proudly sport the title. :)
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Aug 14, 2002
1:24 pm PDT
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Re: Its a good thing your pointing out these things... (Reply to this comment)
by basilisk4
Um, the rule I was always taught was that "small" numbers in a sentence should use the word form, and "large" numbers should be written in number form. I was told that "small" meant single-digit and "large" meant, obviously, ten or more.
Even so, I agree with you that it would be silly to point this out to people, as a general rule. It's like flashing your lights at someone in traffic because you want to pass; chances are, they'll have no idea what the heck you're talking about, so it's probably not worth the bother.
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Oct 10, 2000
5:46 am PDT
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Re: The ol' BBS days (Reply to this comment)
by basilisk4
Do you have any idea how many current friends I have whom I never would have known but for a BBS?
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Oct 10, 2000
5:42 am PDT
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Re: Certainly (Reply to this comment)
by basilisk4
Yeh, since this wasn't a review on possessives, I didn't think it was necessary to mention every type of possessive (although perhaps I should have!).
Also, if one wants to be entirely grammatically correct, the marks used to indicate a quote within a quote are not really apostrophes but rather single quotation marks.
I've never heard of anyone using your "they say" strategy, but that's quite interesting...Certainly there's nothing wrong with taking some liberties with the language (including punctuation), as long as peopel can still understand what you're saying! I used to use this silly little two-dot ellipsis (instead of three), which is blatantly wrong..
Yeh, like that. Every now and again I do it by accident, just out of habit.
Thanks for the enlightening comment!
Marty
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Oct 10, 2000
5:37 am PDT
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Re: Glad to meet (Reply to this comment)
by maillion
At this point, after seeing the term "anal" several times, both in the review and in the comments, this particular comment reminded me of the history of that term. It is short for "anal retentive", a euphemism for "full of s***". In this case I would say that those who have characterised you or anyone for commenting on proper english usage are the ones who are anal!
Maillion
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Oct 9, 2000
10:23 am PDT
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Re: Its a good thing your pointing out these things... (Reply to this comment)
by maillion
When most of your reading is fanzines and most of your writing is done on IRC, and you don't pay attention in class because that would be 'uncool', bad grammar is bound to creep in.
I enjoyed your comment, because I cringe every time I see the things you put in, especially the use of a sound alike word in place of the correct word (your instead of you're, and to instead of too. (I have actually seen people use to for two!)
I also cringe at the use of numbers in text when words are called for in 'proper' grammar:
"I have 2 brothers" instead of "I have two brothers".
I rarely call people to task over the latter, as long as I know what is meant. I would rather not get the person mad at me.
Maillion
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Oct 9, 2000
10:15 am PDT
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Re: The ol' BBS days (Reply to this comment)
by maillion
Me, too. And I miss 'em. ;)
Maillion
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Oct 9, 2000
9:52 am PDT
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Certainly (Reply to this comment)
by maillion
If a review is long, I may give up before finishing if there are a lot of grammatical/spelling errors. If this happens, the review (if that is what I am reading) will get at best an SR, and if I can't find the point, an NR.
You might want to include possesives of a word that ends in "s" with your rules, combined with the rule speaking of possesive, perhaps.
I use apostrophes to indicate that a word or phrase is what the ubiquitous "they" say, for example:
'groovy' is an old hippy slang word
And they can be used in the manner mentioned by guideangel in another comment on this review, although I will more often separate quotes within quotes by putting the interior quote on its own line instead.
Great review.
Maillion
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Oct 9, 2000
9:44 am PDT
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Re: Use of apostrophes... (Reply to this comment)
by GuideAngel
My...Umm...my end-bold was a little late there. Sorry. :)
And darn it, I think I used my real name. Humm. *lol*
--'Angel
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Sep 21, 2000
9:55 pm PDT
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Use of apostrophes... (Reply to this comment)
by GuideAngel
They're occasionally used for a quote-inside-a-quote, like this:
"...And then, like, John totally said, 'Like, do you totally wanna go out sometime?', and I was like, ohmigod!"
This is a bit more rare. It's only done when you need to tell the beginning of the inner quote from the end of the quote all together.
Good review! :)
--Amee
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Sep 21, 2000
9:54 pm PDT
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Re: Glad to meet (Reply to this comment)
by basilisk4
When I'm reading reviews, I want to be able to sit back and read, not squint and scratch my head while trying to figure out just what the heck this person is talking about. There's a reason there are rules for grammar, you know. =P
Marty
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Sep 8, 2000
7:29 pm PDT
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Glad to meet (Reply to this comment)
by KateTPZ
another member of the "anal grammar police", as one commenter called me. Oh well, it matters to me, too.
Good job!
Kate
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Sep 7, 2000
9:04 am PDT
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Re: Its a good thing your pointing out these things... (Reply to this comment)
by basilisk4
I've always wanted to write a review composed entirely of my biggest online pet peeves, but I don't think my feedback rating can handle the backlash that would cause just yet. =)
Marty
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Sep 1, 2000
11:15 am PDT
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Its a good thing your pointing out these things... (Reply to this comment)
by bunnysmom
their are thing's like this in peoples writing that I see alot that really bug's me, to. Thank's for a well-written review. ive included a few of my pet peeve's here,as you can see.
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Aug 30, 2000
8:53 pm PDT
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Re: You Read My Mind!! (Reply to this comment)
by basilisk4
I figurede I'd get some support on this topic. While I've already gotten some negative responses (presumably by those who don't know proper grammar), I've gotten a fair amount of vigorous support. I'm glad to know that this annoys other people besides me. :)
Marty
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Aug 22, 2000
6:26 am PDT
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You Read My Mind!! (Reply to this comment)
by notguerrero
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I know there are exceptions in cases where people are just learning the language or where people have some sort of learning disability, but I think your main point was, people who are able should display their ability. I think it's (that is, IT IS - the possessive "its" contains no apostrophe) really sad when perfectly capable people cannot construct a simple sentence in the proper grammatic fashion.
JG
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Aug 21, 2000
10:01 am PDT
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Re: Anal? No, not really. (Reply to this comment)
by basilisk4
...and that's all I was really trying to get across. Thanks!
Marty
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Aug 14, 2000
7:58 am PDT
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Re: I truly enjoyed . . . (Reply to this comment)
by basilisk4
I'm not sure that what you do really qualifies as misuse of an ellipsis, per se...
Overuse, perhaps, but misuse? Nah. Besides, I do it, too, sooooo...The point is, there's a fine line between things that are basically poetic license, such as using an ellipsis here or there, or adding a few more letters for emphasis as I did above, and leaving blatant grammatical errors in a review. :)
Marty
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Aug 12, 2000
9:06 am PDT
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Re: I truly enjoyed . . . (Reply to this comment)
by Tamara99
*laugh* I misuse ellipses all the time...like this...to add that verbal pause into my writing.
T99
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Aug 11, 2000
1:36 am PDT
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Re: Heh heh. Youve nailed one of my pet peeve's on the head! (Reply to this comment)
by basilisk4
Thanks! It's just funny (or at least kind of sad) to me, because it's something so simple and easy to learn.
Marty`
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Aug 10, 2000
8:58 pm PDT
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Re: I truly enjoyed . . . (Reply to this comment)
by basilisk4
Thanks. :) It was about 50% joke and about 50% actual pet peeve. By the way, I misuse ellipsis points all the time, usually by using two dots instead of three, so...
Anyway, I'm glad I was able to entertain someone!
Thanks,
Marty
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Aug 10, 2000
8:55 pm PDT
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Heh heh. Youve nailed one of my pet peeve's on the head! (Reply to this comment)
by Horswispr
I think many people never bothered to learn how to use apostrophe's correctly! If Im' reading, say, one of basilisk4s eopinion's, and he cant' use his apostrophe's correctly, it make me question his overall credibility. If Zappa can name an album after it, we should be able to use it correctly.
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Aug 9, 2000
9:18 pm PDT
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I truly enjoyed . . . (Reply to this comment)
by gungian
. . . your apostrophe lesson.
But please don't shift your attention to the use [or misuse] of ellipsis points.
I do recognize that they are intended to indicate "omitted material".
I simply appropriated ellipsis points as my "signature feature" in comments.
Thanks for a fine opinion.
Write On!
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Aug 9, 2000
6:49 am PDT
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Re: Very good epinion, (Reply to this comment)
by basilisk4
Theere you go -- it actually hadn't occurred to me to type it up in Word first. I just proofread my opinions myself and then rely on the spellcheck it does automatically.
That's a great suggestion, though.
Thanks, Faye!
Marty
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Aug 8, 2000
5:59 am PDT
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Re: The ol' BBS days (Reply to this comment)
by basilisk4
You know, it's pretty amazing how small the window was during which BBSs were around and thriving -- it couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years. I know this, because I was, sadly, highly involved in BBSs during almost this entire period of time.
The advent of IRC basically killed multi-node BBSs a few years ago, unfortunately.
Anyway, thanks for the well-written comment! =)
Marty
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Aug 7, 2000
1:28 pm PDT
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The ol' BBS days (Reply to this comment)
by mrbeck
You brought up an interesting point - back when the BBS world was in its prime, those who wrote poorly, (and I mean quite poorly), were usually "flamed" off of the [message] boards. It was because of this that I developed a deep appreciation for the appearance of my writing, and that of others. Now that the Internet has opened the doors of communication to a whole new wave of people, I wonder if those who get "flamed" will decide to take pride in future writings, and cause others to follow suit - or simply be scared away from this medium.
Great review!
Michael Beck
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Aug 7, 2000
1:12 pm PDT
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Re: I case I get dinged for this... (Reply to this comment)
by basilisk4
Thank you for your insight -- that is, after all, what I was led to believe the point of this site is as well.
Thanks for the comment!
Marty
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Aug 7, 2000
12:40 pm PDT
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Re: I case I get dinged for this... (Reply to this comment)
by basilisk4
I understand your point, and indeed sometimes pity gets the better of me and I give someone a higher rating than they probably deserved, just based on effort. More often than not, though, I have to drop the rating down a notch if the grammar is awful.
Marty
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Aug 7, 2000
12:39 pm PDT
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