APOSTROPHES.
Somewhere our brains lost track of not only the grammar rules but what looks correct. People have a tendency to throw apostrophes all over the place but the rules of useage are not hard.
Apostrophes are NEVER used to pluralize words; only, in fact, to replace a letter that has been omitted, as in a contraction like "doesn't", which omits the "o" in "not", or to show possession as in "Mary's dog", which expresses that they dog belongs to Mary. If you're not sure, figure out if you are talking about more than one thing or relating that object to something else. "The other CHAIRS are in the garage, but this CHAIR'S cushions need to be cleaned!"
There are some great tips that I refer to here at the Grammar Girl's website, and quite the funny picture description here: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe
Showing posts with label lessons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lessons. Show all posts
Friday, January 15, 2010
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Grammar Correction of the Day
This one is my pet peeve of a non-contraction: WANNA.
Let me tell you something about the non-word, "WANNA"; it's a contraction without the apostrophe. I'll get on the apostrophes in a later post. However, I have to clarify the correct use of the fake word, WANNA.
It's a contraction of "want to", however, many people use it as a contraction for "want a". It's not. It makes me a little nuts to even see intelligent people make this mistake. In reality, you are typing more/using more characters when you type "wanna" when you meant "want a" than if you were meaning to type "want to".
I wanna go home soon, but watching District 9 is making me want a steak!
Let me tell you something about the non-word, "WANNA"; it's a contraction without the apostrophe. I'll get on the apostrophes in a later post. However, I have to clarify the correct use of the fake word, WANNA.
It's a contraction of "want to", however, many people use it as a contraction for "want a". It's not. It makes me a little nuts to even see intelligent people make this mistake. In reality, you are typing more/using more characters when you type "wanna" when you meant "want a" than if you were meaning to type "want to".
I wanna go home soon, but watching District 9 is making me want a steak!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Grammar correction of the day
My involvement in the online community has driven me to offer grammar lessons to those less fortunate asses that don't know even the basic rules of the one and only language that they speak.
Correction of the day: using "of" where "have" should be. For instance, you *should have* studied more in English class, because "of" is an adverb or prepositon!
No, really. When you contract the words, you don't write "should'f". You write "should've"; the "apostrophe-v-e" is a clue to the word that was contracted. The negative follows the same pattern, did you notice? You wouldn't type "should not of", now would you? The same goes for "would" and "could".
Here's a quick trick: if the phrase is followed by a past tense verb, you would use "have", which is the specific helping verb for imperfect past, and present perfect tenses. Think of it this way: if you had gone out in the rain and were stuck in a restaurant for 13 hours, you might think that you should have stayed home!
Correction of the day: using "of" where "have" should be. For instance, you *should have* studied more in English class, because "of" is an adverb or prepositon!
No, really. When you contract the words, you don't write "should'f". You write "should've"; the "apostrophe-v-e" is a clue to the word that was contracted. The negative follows the same pattern, did you notice? You wouldn't type "should not of", now would you? The same goes for "would" and "could".
Here's a quick trick: if the phrase is followed by a past tense verb, you would use "have", which is the specific helping verb for imperfect past, and present perfect tenses. Think of it this way: if you had gone out in the rain and were stuck in a restaurant for 13 hours, you might think that you should have stayed home!
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