Search results for 'tag:Difference between tag:Apostrophes' matching tags 'Difference between' and 'Apostrophes'

Re: Plurals of abbreviations - 1990's or 1990s

Anonymous — Fri, 02 May 2008 22:33:21 GMT

I think the p's and q's argument is most salient here. The apostrophe is used for the sake of clarity. While conventionally used for the possessive, the apostrophe is also used to indicate vernacular omissions and contractions, such as in the cases of "Ol' Dirty ***" or "N'awlins." This understadning of the usage of apostrophes is important for thinking about the 1990s/1990's problem. If you were to spell out the actual words 1990 and 1990s/1990's, you get the words "nineteen ninety" and "nineteen nineties." The difference between these two words is a "y" and an "ies." The possessive spelling of 1990's would be "nineteen ninety's," the plural, "nineteen nineties." The abbreviated representation of the possessive should clearly be 1990's, but what about the plural? One could argue that the apostrophe in this case stands for the omission of the "ie" in "nineteen nineties"

Re: Which one is grammatically correct???

Grammar Geek — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:10:45 GMT

What's the difference between B and C? I'm obviously missing something, but they look okay except that doesn't, won't and wouldn't need the apostrophe.

Re: Could someone please check this sentence?

GL2 — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:59:33 GMT

Feebs11 wrote:
"in their early 30s" is correct. The apostrophe turns it into a possessive of 30.

I am surprised that a porn shop is providing coffee and buns.

This may be a difference between English as it's writen in the UK and America. According to my reference from college (Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers -- Second Edition), you should use an apostrophe to form plurals of letters ("Billie always has trouble printing W's"), numerals ("The address includes six 6's"), symbols (&'s) and words used as terms ("The for's in the paper were all misspelled as four's"). The one exception is with the plural form of years (1980's or 1980s), in which case either is considered acceptable.

Re: Use of Apostrophe 's'

CalifJim — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 00:40:36 GMT

Sometimes it's a matter of style preference.
I don't sense an appreciable difference between London trains and London's trains.

On the other hand:

the table leg / the leg of the table
the table's leg

CJ

Decades, numbers and apostrophes

Rosalama — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 00:05:55 GMT

If I say The 1980s Popular Cluture, and I am referring to the whole decade, do I need an apostrophe?

What's the difference between 1980s, 1980's, 1980s', 80s, 80's?

Which do I use and when?

please help!

genitive VS compound noun

Hela — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 13:31:13 GMT

Dear teachers,

First, happy New Year to you all, and thank you for your kindness and dedication. I want to tell you that you've helped a lot throughout these years and I feel deeply endebted to you.

My question for today is: Can I use the indefinite article with the genitive? Is it correct to say: "It's A five kilometres' walk" ?

What's the difference between : "It's a five kilometres' walk" (genitive); and

"It's a five-kilometre walk" (compound noun) ?

What should I say:

a) "There is two weeks delay" ; (with or without an apostrophe after "weeks" ?)

b) "There is a two weeks delay" ; (with or without an apostrophe after "weeks" ?)

c) "There is a two-week delay" ?

Many thanks,

Hela

Re: Difference between till & until

YoHf — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 19:53:29 GMT

They have the same meaning, thus they're interchangeable.

Here is the fully 'story':

The status of âtil versus until and till is often argued about and most style guides have something to say on the matter.

The most common belief is that till is a shortened form of until. You can see how this could have grown up, but the truth of the matter is that till is by far the older word, being recorded from about the year 800, while it took another 400 years for until to appear in the language (itâs a compound of till with the archaic Old Norse und, as far as, which also survives in the archaic unto). But the first sense of till was to, as it still can be, for example, in Scots and some dialects. Though the modern sense of till in standard English is always connected with time, this only appeared about 1300.

The current position is that until is the more common of the two words and is generally considered to be slightly more formal, which is why it turns up more often in edited prose. It is also rather more likely to appear at the beginning of a sentence than is till. But till is perfectly good English and the choice of whether to use it or until is often decided by the rhythm of the sentence.

âtil, has been created within the past century by people who believe that till is an abbreviation of until and want to mark it as such. It has often been said by style guides and dictionaries that itâs a mistake and it arouses passion in some people. Most recent writers on language prefer to describe it as an informal version of until â it often turns up in newspapers, advertising and song lyrics, for example, and in informal set phrases like âshop âtil you dropâ, âIt ainât over âtil itâs overâ or â âTil we meet againâ. But to use the spelling til without the preceding apostrophe is still regarded as wrong.

Courtesy of http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-unt1.htm

cannot vs can not + apostrophe vs acute accent

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 13:15:58 GMT

Hey all

I'm just starting up as an Instructional Designer and I've just run into two problems.

1. What's the difference between "cannot" and "can not"? Is it simply that one of them is bad English? Or is it american vs imperial?
2. In English, apostrophe (') is used as an aid for possessive constructs and shorts with omitted letters, but what about acute accent (Â´)? In what situations is it being used?

I'd appreciate a rather quick answer, although you will not loose any money or your neck if you're late.

Andreas

Re: Difference Between dont and don't

nona the brit — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 22:43:51 GMT

Yes. You must always include the apostrophe.

Re: Difference Between dont and don't

nona the brit — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 06:45:18 GMT

The only correct form of this is don't. You should always use the apostrophe. Dont is incorrect.