Apostrophes and You

[paulgiamatti]

Originally Posted by Canelek [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

They are often used in place of omitted letters such as do not becoming don't.

This is called a contraction.

Originally Posted by Canelek [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I do not believe they are intended to shorten a past tense word.

You're correct in this belief - they aren't, and never will be. I don't particularly mind when people do this conversationally because I'm not an obnoxious pedant (not suggesting you are either), but I do make a passive mental note about someone when they do it. "Ah, this person doesn't know how to write very well in the English language." No biggie. Lots of people have the same problem.

Originally Posted by Canelek [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

That said, duoed is indeed not a human word. Soloed, however, is.

On that note, it's also technically incorrect to use apostrophes (not apostrophe's) for pluralization - e.g., "I grew up in the '90s" is correct, while "I grew up in the 90's" is not. "I won seven CoFs today" is correct, while "I won seven CoF's today" is not. Apostrophes, unless used as a contraction, should generally only be used to denote possession, except when used as a quotation mark or arbitrarily in a formal title - e.g., "Caiu totally ganked Aftermath's Bladestopper while they were trying to recharge it."

[Swish]

gr8 thred, irate 8/8

[Canelek]

Originally Posted by paulgiamatti [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

This is called a contraction.



You're correct in this belief - they aren't, and never will be. I don't particularly mind when people do this conversationally because I'm not an obnoxious pedant (not suggesting you are either), but I do make a passive mental note about someone when they do it. "Ah, this person doesn't know how to write very well in the English language." No biggie. Lots of people have the same problem.



On that note, it's also technically incorrect to use apostrophes (not apostrophe's) for pluralization - e.g., "I grew up in the '90s" is correct, while "I grew up in the 90's" is not. "I won seven CoFs today" is correct, while "I won seven CoF's today" is not. Apostrophes, unless used as a contraction, should generally only be used to denote possession, except when used as a quotation mark or arbitrarily in a formal title - e.g., "Caiu totally ganked Aftermath's Bladestopper while they were trying to recharge it."

Right. Possession is the primary use, and also the source of greatest confusion. Contractions rank up there as well. There are quite a few other rules that I do not readily recall.

Again, I am not criticizing folks for grammar. I just make mental notes as well and I found this community is rather unique in certain punctuation usage. It is sort of like the proliferation of allot and alot as opposed to the proper 'a lot'. At the end of the day, most people understand what is conveyed even if it is not exact.

[Sadre Spinegnawer]

You know, this almost should be stickied on the "starting zone" subboard.

I think it is a fair and honest question. Remember the term "leet speak"?

(and yes, I realize the question mark should inside the quotes, but I find that... distracting)

We talk funny in game and we talk funny on message boards, always have. What sane adult, for example, would publicly say the word "woot!" (in this case I feel the exclamation is integral not distracting, and so belongs in the quotation marks) in actual real life?

I always cringe when I do anymore. I'm like, dude, save that for your online stuff; there is very little "woot" in rl.

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[loramin]

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I wish I knew how to make images actually show up [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[paulgiamatti]

Punctuation outside of quotation marks actually isn't technically wrong when it isn't a part of the quote. It's just more British than American, weirdly enough. American English teaches that you should always place punctuation inside of quotes, regardless of what the punctuation belongs to. I think the British way is becoming more universal, because it honestly just makes more sense.

[Sadre Spinegnawer]

loramin: they have to be from imgur. they changed the forums last year sometime, only imgur stuff shows up. smooth operators ~la

[Sadre Spinegnawer]

Originally Posted by paulgiamatti [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Punctuation outside of quotation marks actually isn't technically wrong when it isn't a part of the quote. It's just more British than American, weirdly enough. American English teaches that you should always place punctuation inside of quotes, regardless of what the punctuation belongs to. I think the British way is becoming more universal, because it honestly just makes more sense.

I am going to wholeheartedly agree with you. I feel punctuation needs to defer to the needs and intents of the quote. I mean, that is the entire point of a quotation, I would hope.

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Sadre Spinegnawer [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

loramin: they have to be from imgur. they changed the forums last year sometime, only imgur stuff shows up. smooth operators ~la

Thank you!

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[paulgiamatti]

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.co...verything.html