Search results for 'tag:Plurals tag:Apostrophes' matching tags 'Plurals' and 'Apostrophes'

Re: Why "all" is singular here?

Abil — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:35:00 GMT

Avangi
"All's I know is, she was drunk as a skunk!"Â (That's not really a plural, if we're thinking about the same thing.)

Avangi, I don't understand why you have used the apostrophe s with "all".

Thanks CJ, for your brilliant explanation. Like Doll, I too used to apply my common sense while using "is" and "are" with "all".

Re: the apostrophe s!

yizhivika — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:12:47 GMT

Hi Shely,

If the noun is singular, as with 'Poland' here, you should say:

Poland's entrance [actually, you're more likely to use 'entry' here, not 'entrance'] to the EU.

You use s' if the noun is plural. For example:

The local farmers' wives always organise a festival at this time of year.

Note that if you were talking of only one farmer you would say:

The local farmer's wife always organises a festival at this time of year.

Be careful, however, with irregular plurals such as men and children.

It would be "The men's wives..." and "The children's toys..."

Also note that you'll sometimes see s' used with singular nouns that end in s, when the noun is a proper name. For example:

Mr. Jones' daughter has just got married. (Mr. Jones here is the man's name).

Re: Using an apostrophe

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:16:56 GMT

Possessive Use

If you are using a singular noun to indicate possession, use an apostrophe before the "s."
If you are using a plural noun, use an apostrophe after the "s."

Instead of: Both neighbors dogs barked all night long.
Consider: Both neighbors' dogs barked all night long.

Instead of: Ice hockey is Toms favorite sport.
Consider: Ice hockey is Tom's favorite sport.

(NOUN MEANS - PERSON, PLACE, THING, OR IDEA) - meaining that you would use an apostrophy for non-living things as well...

THIS IS BY WAY OF MICROSOFT WORD..HOPE THIS HELPS

Re: Plural for Curriculum Vitae

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:55:33 GMT

I quite agree with Curricula Vitae (being plural) as it is based on the use of a Latin phrase. A possible alternative is "Work History" as we speak English (not Latin) or resume (as point out by another poster).

Also, if you see CV's this is wrong according to contemporary (Australian) use as the apostrophe denotes possessive. Some would argue that the apostrophe is actually correct as it indicates an abbreviation, this was the case in the 70s and 80s (then we used to write 70's and 80's denoting abbreviation), but not in the 2000s.

David, Sydney (Technical Editor)

Re: tricky 's

YoungCalifornian — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:31:23 GMT

â¦â¦â¦â¦.The Chicagoâs club phone nâ¦â¦â¦â¦..

â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦The Chicagoâs clubâs phone nâ¦â¦.

Neither is correct. It shoud be "The Chicago club's phone number..." assuming that the subject is "Chicago club".

The policeâ phone n.

It should be either "The police's phone number..." or even "The police phone number...". The second option does not illustrate a possesive, but rather changes the entire subject to "police phone number". Because "police's" sounds a little funny, most people would opt for that second example or something like "The phone number of the police...". Nonetheless, "police's" is correct. Despite ending in an "s" sound and being plural, the fact that the word itself does not end in "s" means that you must add both an apostrophe and an "s" to indicate possession.

Memos show Clinton turmoil

Jackson6612 — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:05:10 GMT

Memos show Clinton turmoil

Question: I would have written ''Clinton's turmoil''. Why didn't the author use apostrophe?

BY CRAIG GORDON AND TOM BRUNE | <email addresses removed by mod.>
August 13, 2008

Question: Why is semicolon used instead of comma to separate the email addresses above?

WASHINGTON - In a fresh postmortem (=an examination of a plan or event that failed, done to discover why it failed, =autopsy) on Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid (=attempt to obtain or do something), newly published staff memos (=a short official note to another person in the same company or organization) and e-mails reveal a campaign hobbled (=to hobble something or someone means to make it more difficult for them to be successful or to achieve what they want) by internal rivalries (=a situation in which two or more people, teams, or companies are competing for something), faulty planning, bloated (=more than needed, =excessive) spending - and perhaps most important, Clinton's own failure to make the hard decisions.

Clinton offered herself to voters as a hyper-competent (=extra competent) executive ready to be president from day one. But atop (=on top of something) her own campaign, she was a hesitant leader, who allowed bitter infighting (=when members of the same group or organization argue, or compete with each other in an unfriendly way) to fester (=If an argument or bad feeling festers, it continues so that feelings of hate or dissatisfaction increase) among staffers over whether to go negative against Barack Obama, according to the Atlantic magazine.

The most bare-knuckled (=characterized by disorderly action and disregard for rules) lines of attack came from Clinton's chief strategist, Mark Penn, who urged Clinton to highlight Obama's "lack of American roots" due to his upbringing in Indonesia and Hawaii - saying he could only win if he faced Attila the Hun ((?406-453 AD) a king of the Huns (=an ancient people from Asia) who attacked and took control of large parts of the Roman Empire. He is famous for being violent and cruel).

But Clinton didn't embrace Penn's flag-waving (=the expression of strong national feelings, especially when these feelings seem too extreme) approach (=way of doing something), which campaign aides (=someone whose job is to help someone who has an important job, especially a politician) insist was never seriously considered.

Question: Clinton didn't embrace Penn's approach because she did not consider it seriously. Therefore, what campaign aides were saying is redundant.

The article also says that Clinton at times grew frustrated and short-tempered - including on the morning after her stunning third-place finish in Iowa in January, when aides on a call were silent. Clinton's camp dismissed the story as "inside-the-Beltway gossip" and "old news." And former campaign aides sharply disputed the notion of Clinton as an indecisive leader, with one campaign veteran saying, "Nobody seems to want to remember the fact that we had so many successes and come-from-behind victories in this campaign ... and they are due in large part to Senator Clinton's leadership."

Question: What does the line including on the morning...when aides on a call were silent mean? If she finished third place, then why would the author describe it as stunning? What does call mean in when aides on a call were silent?

Question: What does the phrase inside-the-Beltway gossip mean?

Question: What does the line Nobody seems to want to remember...to Senator Clinton's leadership'' mean?

But the e-mails and memos offer vivid (=very clear and detailed) new details about what had long been reported - that Clinton's headquarters was beset (=to make someone experience serious problems or dangers) by caustic (=bitter) internal battles involving Penn and former President Bill Clinton, who wanted to forcefully attack Obama, and others who wanted the New York senator to take a more positive tack (=method, =way of doing something). At one point, it was Bill Clinton - and not Hillary - who approved the famed 3 a.m. phone call ad.

Question: what had long been reported is passive past perfect tense. Am I right?

Question: I think headquarters should take plural verb. What do you say?

Question: Why are the hyphens used in -and not Hillary-? I believe commas would do instead?

Adding to the turmoil was the fact that the campaign had little strategy and no money left to seriously compete in the post-Super Tuesday contests - having (=the form having with a past participle can be used to introduce a clause in which you mention an action which had already happened before another action began) burned through $106 million before Iowa. That allowed Obama to win 12 straight contests and effectively wrap up (=to finish a job, meeting etc) the nomination.

Question: What does burned through mean?

In the end, the campaign's strategy came to reflect some of the internal turmoil, as Clinton veered (=changed course) from attacking Obama to emphasizing her personal side.

Question: What does her personal side mean?

Penn did offer some advice in March 2007 that proved on the mark - Clinton's path to victory lay with women and lower- and working-class voters.

Question: What does proved on the mark mean? I couldn't find it in the dictionary.

But by the time Clinton finally settled on that strategy to win the later primaries, it was too late.

Excerpts from the memos

"All of these articles about his boyhood in Indonesia and his life in Hawaii are geared towards showing his background is diverse, multicultural and putting that in a new light ... It also exposes a very strong weakness for him - his roots to basic American values and culture are at best (=even when considered in the most positive way) limited. I cannot imagine America electing a president during a time of war who is not at his center fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values." Strategist Mark Penn, from a March 19, 2007, memo to Hillary Rodham Clinton advising her to attack Barack Obama for his "lack of American roots."

Question: What does centre mean in the above context?

"The right knows Obama is unelectable except perhaps against Attila the Hun, and a third party would come in then anyway." Penn, from the same memo.

Question: Does right refer to right wing in the above context?

"This has been a very instructive call, talking to myself." Clinton, before angrily hanging up on a staff conference call the day after coming in third in Iowa in January. "She complained of being outmaneuvered (=to gain an advantage over someone by using cleverer or more skilful plans or methods) in Iowa and being painted as the establishment candidate," according to the Atlantic - but was met with near-silence.

Question: I would have written This has been..., talking to me. Why did she use myself?

Question: What is a conference call? Is it some kind of telephone call which address many poeple?

Question: Why is in used in coming in third?

"STOP IT!! I have help my tongue for weeks. After this morning's WP story, no longer. This makes me sick. This circular firing squad that is occurring is unattractive, unprofessional, unconscionable, and unacceptable ... It must stop." Robert Barnett, a Clinton lawyer and Washington insider, from a March 6, 2008, e-mail to campaign staff after a Washington Post story detailed the infighting.

Question: What does I have help my tongue for weeks mean?

Question: What does This circular firing squad mean?

Question: Were the comments in the last paragraph made by Robert Barnett?

Re: Plural of s = s'es?

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:05:36 GMT

Actually, the apostrophe shouldn't be placed there. It should merely be PSs - similar to the "1980s" not "1980's"
Also - the s's looks kinda weird...maybe it's meant to be like s' or something o__O; for e.g. it's meant to be "James' wallet", as opposed to "James's wallet" <--except American spelling often utilises this form

Re: nations' efforts or nations efforts

wholegrain — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:52:42 GMT

NO, THERE IS!

Muhahahahahahaha!

Proof:

Noun adjuncts were traditionally mostly singular (e.g. "trouser press") except when there were lexical restrictions (e.g. "arms race"), but there is a recent trend towards more use of plural ones, especially in UK English. Many of these can also be and/or were originally interpreted and spelled as plural possessives (for example "chemicals' agency", "writers' conference", "Rangers' hockey game")[2], but they are now often written without the apostrophe although this is criticised by some authorities.

Re: logo's

Delmobile — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:01:35 GMT

There are people who, for some reason, will insert an apostrophe to form the plural any time they feel the least bit insecure about the way the word looks. (In this case perhaps the writer was worried that John would confuse the plural of "logo" with the Greek "logos." ) I had thought this was primarily an American sickness but I guess now it's infecting the UK as well.

The only time an apostrophe is necessary to avoid confusion is to form the plural of a lower-case letter: "Timmy is spelled with two m's." Some people use it for numbers, too ("the 1960's were a turbulent time") but most style books I've seen prefer to form the plural of numbers and capital letters with only the lower-case s (1920s).

possessive

Anonymous — Sat, 31 May 2008 21:59:06 GMT

Hi,

1. ... is a girls' subject

2. ... is a girls' school

3. ... is a teachers seminar.

4. ... is a games magazine .

As to no. 3, why is it that I rarely see 'a teachers' seminar'? I think Mr. M told us that a publisher dislikes an apostrophe for that kind of case.

As to no. 4, why is that 'games' instead of 'game' is used? Since a magazine is for many games, then the plural 'games' is OK. I thought a singular version? is usually used as an adjective?