English Lesson

Catdaddy said:
The English language is such a complicated one...

I was told that one of the tests for high-functioning autism (Asperger's) is to see if the patient can understand the difference in overall meaning if you give them the following sentence...

"I told him not to do that"

...and tell them to put the emphasis on a different word each time it's read out.
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Perhaps the diagnosis is based on the fact that they think "I told him not to do that" is a meaningful sentence. ;)
 
Catdaddy said:
............... I was on another forum earlier and saw that someone had written .................
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:lol:..at the risk of getting blown out the water

would you say as above
or
...and read that someone had written..............;)
 
Yardbent said:
:lol:..at the risk of getting blown out the water

would you say as above
or
...and read that someone had written..............;)
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Hahaha! Well, it's true - I did see it! ;)
 
Does any of this really matter? English is mainly derived from Anglo-Saxon, with infusions from Latin, Norse languages and Norman French (and a few other languages too, I imagine). There are some guidelines, but it's never had an official regulator.

There was no standard spelling until Johnson's Dictionary of The English Language appeared in the mid-C18th and that was premised on London usage. It largely ignored regional and dialect use and vocabulary; and many of these forms are still in common use today. The use of apostrophes has changed over the years too, and I don't suppose most people are even aware of their origins. There's nothing special or sacrosanct about them.

US English is based on UK English during the early period of settlement, with modern vocabulary added where necessary. It's not right, or wrong, it's just different.

Texting and email have changed the use of English too, but it's just part of an ongoing process. I can live with it, providing I can understand what someone is saying without having to puzzle it out. I admit that I do get a bit irritated when people write a whole post as a single sentence, without any capitals, punctuation or other breaks, and I have to decipher what they are saying.
 
So which one of the following is correct?:thinking:

1. It's 5 minutes walk from here
2. It's 5 minutes' walk from here
 
Its a good question, because many years ago photograph was a word and photo wasn't - so the abbreviation got an apostrophe. But the world moves on, photo is a word in its own right, and so to make it plural just add an s.

I do agree with the question of "does it matter?". And I take the view that, as long as the meaning is clear, I don't care. Chances are it will be obvious from the context whether i'm talking about "the photos I took" (plural) and "the photo's size" (possessive). But you may need to get it right to understand the difference between "the photo's size" (singular possessive) and "the photos' size" (plural possessive).

Another odd example, where understanding may actually outweigh technically correct... As (where I mean multiple instances of the letter A) just isn't understandable, and so most of us would use A's, even though it doesn't technically need an apostrophe. I believe the OED now describes that apostrophe as optional, though could be wrong.

David
 
scuby said:
Its a good question, because many years ago photograph was a word and photo wasn't - so the abbreviation got an apostrophe.
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I'm sorry, but this simply isn't true. Apostrophes are never used for plurals, regardless of whether or not the word is an abbreviation.
 
fabs said:
No, it's Number 1. No apostrophe for plurals. ;)
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the apostrophe is there to show posession e.g. The walk of 5 minutes.

The following are correct:

5 minutes' walk
A 5 minute walk
5 minutes of walking
1 minute's walk
 
Wouldn't it just be easier to say "It's not far, you can walk there in five minutes"? I even managed to get an apostrophe in there.
 
MartynK said:
Wouldn't it just be easier to say "It's not far, you can walk there in five minutes"? I even managed to get an apostrophe in there.
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It would be easier to write 'photos' instead of 'photo's' where appropriate yet some people...:lol:
 
SarahLee said:
Sorry guys, have to agree with Garry and Kevin on that one.

"It's 5 minutes' walk from here"

The apostrophe is there because it's possessive. It's a walk of 5 minutes duration.
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That depends if you class minutes as being able to possess something (similar to where its, when used in the possessive, does not have an apostrophe) but I can see the logic.
 
Think of it another way, place an apostrophe after the "s" when dealing with a possessive plural case that has an "s" at the end (e.g., book to books, tree to trees, minute to minutes). But if the word is plural without an "s" at the end, this rule does not apply; add an apostrophe and an "s" as if the word were singular.

Oh and it should be five not 5 technically :)
 
A hifi magazine I read always has the word 'speakers as it is an abbreviation of loudspeakers, but I'm not sure that this looks anything other than strange?
 
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