Punctuation lovers...I know you are out there

[popsycal]

Check out this book
thoroughly recommended

shouldn't that be grammar?

I AM SOOOO EMBARRASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SLIP OF THE FINGER NOT INADEQUATE SPELLING

(sorry for shouting - obviously hit caps lock when finger slipped.....

My dad (on his deathbed mind you!) corrected the cancer specialist who said "well, that's a mute point." She waited patiently as he explained the difference between mute and moot (he was an English teacher and pedant).

good for your dad!!!!!!

Whoops, quite right Norma! Sorry, grammar. That's my good spelling prize out the winder. www, excellent of your dad, my dad was in a similar position.

god i apologised for spelling of grammer
and it wasnt even me i'll get my coat.......

god - i need to put this on the insanity or motherhood thread!

Also hate people using 'less' when they mean 'fewer'.
I've explained apostrophes to my kids until I'm blue in the face, but they still make mistakes, probably because they are rarely picked up for it at school...dd3's nickname is 'Our Lady of the Random Apostrophe'!

right folks...readingthe book that i initially started this thread about....
someone asked about photo' and 'bus or somehting similar
on pg 42 it says that common abbreviations such as these are acceptable instances of not using the apostrophe
it really is a fab book
you really have to buy it if you have posted on here!!!!

mooma - dd3 cant be in my class then...

Collective nouns used as a plural. The government (IMO lower case too) IS not ARE. Ditto population, Friends of the Earth, etc etc.

Is it the new John Humphries book that (that, presumably, not which???) sounds fab too?

no its by someone Truss
and i am a tad perturbed by a bit i just read

you know the whole apostrophe bit like James' room etc...words possessive with words ending in 's'
well i already know that these days, it is acceptable to do James' room and James's room
this book says that it is now more acceptable to do James's than James' which i find rather disturbing!!!
and the annoying thing is ds is one of these people with 's' as the last letter in his name!!!!!
Why did I do this to the poor boy!

but apprently if you are an ancient greek
eg archimedes
or are jesus you do archimedes' life
and jesus' life
but not if you are moses - moses must be modern enough to be moses's!
hmmmmm
i always stick to what i thought was the more correct version (go on - jump on me for bad grammar) of James' toys
argh

ds1 is 6 and he reads in bed for 30-40 mins each evening. He regularly comes down to show me grammatical mistakes in the books he is reading - punctuation or capitalisation errors, or spelling mistakes. Maybe I should enrol him for an editing course now?!

right i am a little worried anotu what this eat shoots and leaves book is saying about my beloved comma
it might need a v knowledgable grammar person to help me out as i am merely a lowly key stage two english teacher
Quote "Commas are used when two complete sentences are joined together, using such connectives as 'and', 'or, 'but', 'while' and 'yet'
then there are egs
The boys wnated to stay up until midnight, but they grew tired and fell asleep
Now sorry for the long post that this is changing into but i am being a real pedant here.....
Firstly, two sentences joined by and, but and also afew others make a compound sentence which does not require a comma.....
Secondly, if they are joined by a subordinating connective (eg although, yet etc) you only need to separate the clauses which a comma when you begin the sentence with a subordinate clause
eg
I went to bed although I was not very tired (no ocomma)
Although I was not tired, I went to bed (comma)
Sorry if this pedantic post makes me the biggest loser in the world but the education of the nation (well 33 10 year olds) is at stake here
so is my sanity
who is correct - moi or lynne truss, panda lasy?
anyone!?

and here i am being pedantic about punctuation and look at all the errors in that post.......
i blame the alcohol

I read it just fine Popsy and I'm a fellow pedant. But then I've had 1/2 a bottle of red too!

but am i right or is she right?

Hang on, let me read it again ...

What do all of you think about the current debate going on about whether text language should be admissible in a Scrabble game?

its teh bit about commas.....she wants commas in compund and complex sentences
i just want them in complex sentences WHEN THE SUBORDINATE CLAuSE IS AT THE START

does that make sense

Yeah, you're right Pops

compund=compound

mr QCA/national curriculum people also say i am right....