Lessons learnt from tenants

Discussion in 'Property Management' started by Jacque, 22nd Nov, 2005.

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  1. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    I think Jacque was referring to the word "photo's": I'd bet that they weren't using it to represent a contraction, but rather (incorrectly) for possession. That's one of the more common mistakes I see on signwriting. Nobody seems to know how to use an apostrophe correctly these days.

    While one might argue the rule about omission of letters such as photograph -> photo, it is widely accepted that familiar contractions (omnibus -> bus, influenza -> flu, telephone -> phone, etc.), do not require an apostrophe to acknowledge the missed letters.

    There is no possessive there, so any thought of using it that way is also incorrect.

    However, it can also be used to represent the plural of letters and words - but again, that usage in this case, is incorrect.

    If I were, for example, to argue that: people tend to commonly contract their photo's; their bus's; their flu's; then I would be referring to the usage of those individual, non-pluralised words.

    Of course that is not what they are attempting to achieve - they are not talking about the word photo, they are talking about an actual photo.

    An excellent book on this topic of punctuation, which is both amusing and educational, and also easy to read - is "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Lynne Truss.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 12th Dec, 2005
    Simon Hampel, 12th Dec, 2005
    #21
  2. Takestock

    Takestock Well-Known Member

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    Thanks Sim, thats the most bestest grammar lesson Ive seen in a while!
     
    Takestock, 12th Dec, 2005
    #22
  3. Jacque

    Jacque Jacque Parker Premium Member

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    Sim is spot on :)
    "Santa" is a proper noun, so he deserveth the first letter of his name in capitals, just like Michael or Simon :D
    "You're" indeed is a contraction for "you are" whilst, in contrast, "your" is used as a modifier before a noun, as it is an adjective that is the possessive form of "you".
    And "photo's", as Sim has already pointed out, in this instance, does not indicate possession, so in fact is incorrect. It is referring to a plural form of the noun, which, in this case, should have read "photos".


    Hey Sim, I saw that book advertised too and thought it looked worthwhile as well. I will now add it to my Xmas list!
     
    Jacque, 12th Dec, 2005
    #23
  4. MichaelW

    MichaelW Well-Known Member

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    :D

    Way to go grammar kids. I'm with you all the way on the poor standard of our written English. Seems there's a lot of "Americanisms" sneaking into our language too which I find dissappointing. Have you noticed how gaol is commonly spelt jail in OUR papers lately? Something is amiss, and there are many other examples of the erosion of our language but that's a whole other topic. :rolleyes:

    PS Yeah, agree that "photo's" should have read "photos". Was just mounting a defensive on account of it being a possible contraction of photographs... I think it was an accidental possessive though so gets two thumbs down from here.

    Like take care over Christmas y'all (oops America wins! :eek: )

    Cheers,
    Michael.
     
    MichaelW, 13th Dec, 2005
    #24
  5. Tropo

    Tropo Well-Known Member

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    EuroEnglish

    The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short). In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft "c". Sertainly, sivil servants will resieve this news with joy. Also, the hard "c" will be replaced with "k." Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.

    There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced by "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20 per sent shorter.

    In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent "e"s in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.

    By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" by "z" and "W" by "V". During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou", and similar changes vud of kors; be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters. After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil b no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer. Ze drem vil finali kum tru.
    :cool:
     
    Tropo, 14th Dec, 2005
    #25
  6. Jacque

    Jacque Jacque Parker Premium Member

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    Zanks for ze laff Tropo :)
    Isn't this what we all sound like after a wee bit of Xmas cheer? ;)
     
    Jacque, 14th Dec, 2005
    #26
  7. Tropo

    Tropo Well-Known Member

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    You are not wrong !!!...... :)
    Cheers ... :D :D
    :cool:
     
    Tropo, 14th Dec, 2005
    #27
  8. Jacque

    Jacque Jacque Parker Premium Member

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    By the way, I am halfway through Lynne Truss's book and would HIGHLY recommend it to any lovers of the English language: it is very worthwhile, educational and entertaining- if one can claim that of a book on punctuation!!
     
    Jacque, 4th Jan, 2006
    #28
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