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@fmf saidIn this sentence...
A thread for raising minor bones of contention or bones of minor contention.
"I usually disagree with the Tory party in the UK, but it's decision to dump people at an airport in Rwanda with a bottle of water and a Welcome To The Free World ballpoint pen is spot on in my book"
...the word "it's" is an error: it should be "its".
But surely it makes perfect sense for it to be "it's"?
"It's decision" ~ the decision of it ~ "it" being "the Tory party in the UK".
How long before the genitive "it's" is no longer perceived as an error?
Possessive nouns get the apostrophe, possessive pronouns don't.
But don't worry about it, unless you're filling in a job application or thesis. Nowadays clarity is preferred to correct grammar.
Given that they're supposed to be training the intellectual class, do expensive private schools still teach correct grammar?
@kewpie saidI believe children and youths are more often than not using word processors to write stuff now and these will have grammar and spelling check features that mean writers don't even realize they are making mistakes ~ so they don't learn from being corrected. There is also the ubiquitous "Grammarly" which is increasingly good [to be fair] at what it does but, again, I don't think its interventions and corrections lead to the writers learning from their mistakes.
Given that they're supposed to be training the intellectual class, do expensive private schools still teach correct grammar?
@fmf saidIf someone points out grammar errors, it just provokes a grammar nazi call. Ultimely I hope English takes the two-level approach used in some non-English languages, where there's a formal version used by courts and scholars and an informal language used by other people.
I believe children and youths are more often than not using word processors to write stuff now and these will have grammar and spelling check features that mean writers don't even realize they are making mistakes ~ so they don't learn from being corrected. There is also the ubiquitous "Grammarly" which is increasingly good [to be fair] at what it does but, again, I don't think its interventions and corrections lead to the writers learning from their mistakes.
@kewpie saidThe two-level approach works far, far less well in the US.
If someone points out grammar errors, it just provokes a grammar nazi call. Ultimely I hope English takes the two-level approach used in some non-English languages, where there's a formal version used by courts and scholars and an informal language used by other people.
What we end up with is people who speak properly understandable English, and then rednecks from the South, who never learned proper English, sounding like, well, they're from the South.
@fmf saidThis is like asking, "Will the distinction between "toaster" and "automobile" be lost in common usage some day relatively soon?"
Will the distinction between "acronym" and "abbreviation" be lost in common usage some day relatively soon?
Acronyms are not abbreviations, nor are abbreviations acronyms.
If you cannot tell the difference, perhaps you should go back to primary school. Don't assume everyone else gets it wrong, too.
@fmf saidThis is incorrect.
"It's decision" ~ the decision of it ~ "it" being "the Tory party in the UK".
Possessives and apostrophes do not mix, unless the possessive is of a proper name.
"Bob's Diner", but "its decision". Pronouns especially do not take apostrophes in the possessive. Period.
God forbid illiterates be allowed to craft our languages moving forward.
@suzianne saidWhat a strange reaction replete with misapprehensions.
This is like asking, "Will the distinction between "toaster" and "automobile" be lost in common usage some day relatively soon?"
Acronyms are not abbreviations, nor are abbreviations acronyms.
If you cannot tell the difference, perhaps you should go back to primary school. Don't assume everyone else gets it wrong, too.
@suzianne saidMmm. I think you've rather missed the point.
This is incorrect.
Possessives and apostrophes do not mix, unless the possessive is of a proper name.
"Bob's Diner", but "its decision". Pronouns especially do not take apostrophes in the possessive. Period.
God forbid illiterates be allowed to craft our languages moving forward.
