On Tue, Sep 05, 2006 at 09:46:01AM -0700, John Oliver wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 04, 2006 at 09:24:50PM -0700, Carl Lowenstein wrote:
> > On 9/4/06, James G. Sack (jim) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > >James G. Sack (jim) wrote:
> > >>.. it's existence. ..
> > >
> > >I am embarrassed at how frequently I fall into the incorrect use of an
> > >apostrophe in _its_ (thinking I'm supposed to use apostrophes for
> > >possessive).
> > >
> > >Dose anyone have any mnemonic tricks for correcting such grammar slips?
> >
> > Dese and Dose are some of the rules:
> >
> > "it's" stands for "it is" or possibly "it has". If that is not what
> > you meant to say then you are about to use the wrong word. It's as
> > simple as that.
>
> But 's is used for the possessive quite a bit.
>
> I constantly get confused about apostrophes, too.
>
> How would you indicate the possessive form for a group of Mercedes
> Benz(es? s?)? :-)
Except for "its" discussed above, English possessives are done with
either "'s" or, if a word ends in "s", optionally "s'". So my last name
can be done as:
Barnes's book
Barnes' book
Equally correct.
But you are correct that the apostrophe is an overburdened piece of
punctuation, and as always when too much meaning is shuffled on too
little symbology (take a lesson, C++ users), the situation rapidly
degenerates into ambiguity and confusion.
--
Lan Barnes
Linux Guy, SCM Specialist
Tcl/Tk Enthusiast
If scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims
in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and
abandon those claims. [No one who wants to understand the world] can
ignore the basic insights of theories as key as evolution, relativity
and quantum mechanics.
- the Dalai Lama
--
[email protected]
http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
