Punctuation lovers...I know you are out there

[popsycal]

Check out this book
thoroughly recommended

I read the review in The Times and put it on my Christmas list. Have you read it popsycal? Does it live up to the reviews?

OOh that does look good. Never quite got posessive apostrphes meself

Just borrowed it from a friend....not read much but it does live up to the reviews so far....many of my (sad) friends recommended it!
I am one of these people who has a pet peeve about punctuation - mainly the blasted apostrophe!
Better not to use it at all than use it incorrectly!

Excellent! My dh does a lot of proof reading at work and despairs at the lack of correct punctuation used. You even see tv adverts with the wrong punctuation which is dreadful.

apostrophe advice...if you don't know hwy you are using it, then don't
thats the apostrophe rule!!!
hehehehehe
not meaning to rile people!

Popsycal
Pandas again! I like the sound of this too, might request it for Xmas.

oh god yeah...dandas (pandas to you and i) are stalking me!!!

'If in doubt leave it out', as my teachers used to say and I have to say I agree. None is better than one in the wrong place. I have passed that one on to my children although I do't know if it is in current usage. They ignore me anyway.

Agree on apostrophes. I was horrified the other day to see that I'd used one in a plural by accident in a mumsnet post (why can't we have an edit post button?? ).

Anyway I was highly amused by the version of the eats shoot and leaves joke: I heard an entirely different and not-printable-on-amazon version!

Oops: don't

i teach...and rightly or wrongly, that's what i tell my lot!
i teach the blasted apostrophe but dread it...the best so far that i have seen is gras's!
got my class on a mission to hunt out random apostrophes
they love it and it makes them 'get' it!

lucy123-yes./....i heard your version too....pandas and men?

mmm school where i run guides could do with this book.

menu board fro lunches thi week was appalling:
they were eating

carrot's
bean's
& meat & potatoe pie.

grrrrr how are the children supposed to learn when the staff can't get it right?

I know it isn't grammar, but I was put off a local school when they handed me a sheet showing their admirable results for maths, reading and SPELING(!!!!)

That's a great idea popsycle.
Bogwoppit, I think I'd have had to get out some chalk and rubber and attacked that menu board.

My pet peeve is manufacturers putting French/Spanish, whatever phrases on clothes and getting the spelling, gender etc. completely wrong.

Batters - it was HC! And to think of all those very middle class parents down that way. I had heard about the Ofsted for H, and am very pleased for them, but I still think you did the right thing with your DD(!)

my pet hate is double negatives! I am by no means perfect bit i hate that! "don't wanna go nowhere........didn't say nothing...."

A question about apostrophes.

so I work for a company called Nexus

in teh sentence "Nexus's employees" - is that correct?
or is it "Nexus' employees"

I was taught that both those examples are correct. Although Nexus's is "more correct" than Nexus', if a noun ends in an S then you can just use the apostrophe for ease of pronunciation.

Any other opinions?

ahh, that's what I thought but every single time I come across it I'm not sure which is right

Re Nexus's or Nexus' - both are correct. Individual publishers will have house styles as to which they prefer.

Most would use s's when it is pronounced. i.e. you would write Charles's and James's; but Bridges' (not Bridges's). In addition there tend to be specific customs for things like ancient classical names and biblical names! (Venus' and Jesus' for instance).

Did you really want to know that?