garryknight
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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.
and please use their services
English Lesson
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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
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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.
Hahaha! Possibly!
Yardbent
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..at the risk of getting blown out the waterwould you say as above
or
...and read that someone had written..............
Catdaddy
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would you say as above
or
...and read that someone had written..............
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.
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.
garryknight
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No, it does'nt
So which one of the following is correct?
1. It's 5 minutes walk from here
2. It's 5 minutes' walk from here
Number 2 is correct. But don't ask me why...
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No, it does'nt
Number 2 is correct. But don't ask me why...
No, it's Number 1. No apostrophe for plurals.
No, it's Number 1. No apostrophe for plurals.
I agree
It's wrong anyway - it's 10 minutes not 5
Ken
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david357
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No, it does'nt
Number 2 is correct. But don't ask me why...
..... doesn't?
scuby
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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
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
onona
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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.
No, it's Number 1. No apostrophe for plurals.
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
It would be easier to write 'photos' instead of 'photo's' where appropriate yet some people...
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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.
wibbly
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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
Oh and it should be five not 5 technically
