opinions

I hate the use of "would / should of" instead of "would / should have"

I also hate people using the wrong one of there, their, they're;

But I'm not going to get all Meldrew on you.

Roberto's 'Hemmingway'  was not mis-spelt, it was just that he used the wrong version of the name when applying it to Ernest Hemingway.

Ernest was was from the line of one   Ralph Hemenway who married Elizabeth Hewes in Roxbury MA, on 5 July 1634. Two former US presidents are  direct ancestors of the couple and a further three are linked via Elizabeths' ancestors.

Incredibly there are over 250 variants of the name.

Oh yes, a pet hate.

The use of the word 'of' in place of 'have' as in   'I should of left earlier' or 'I'd sooner of had a meal'. I thought it was a corruption brought into use by the texting generation until I found it in a James Baldwin book written in the 1950's. It was in the body of the text and not quoted speech and so could it be an Americanism? Whichever, I find it annoying.

Pilgrim,

I'm so pleased to see I'm not the only one who needs a little more education re: English.

I'm dyslexic, or some thing close to that. I have problems with word shapes, some times they just look wrong to me. If I  change the font it can make all the differance. Does that makes any sence to any one?  If I don't 'get it'  the first time, whatever 'it' is, it takes me yonks to 'get it'.  I taught myself how to do PAYE from the pack the Inland Revenu send out. I can't be that thick! Numbers make sence to me. They either add up right or wrong.

I get confused with lose and loose. One is some thing baggy, the other is some thing lost'ish

Roberto,

With you all the way there! (did I use the correct one?)

Remember, I'm laughing at myself here, so others are laughing WITH me not AT me.

Rosa Fay,

I think you should start a thread to help english people with their english.

No Meldrew comments permited!

Take care all, Febe

OK, Roberto, you are correct.  "It" is something of an exception to the rule.  It's=it is.  Its=of it.

Febe, Febe's shoes (apostrophe before the -s-) = the shoes of Febe.  Otherwise, you have got it.

Singular names ending in -s- are tricky.  So, I have just consulted "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Lynne Truss (note how I have avoided the use of the apostrophe completely!) and in her chapter "The Tractable Apostrophe", she says this:

"Current guides to punctuation.....state that with modern names ending in -s-...... the -s- is required after the apostrophe:

Keats's poems

Philippa Jones's book"

There are, apparently, exceptions for ancient names, eg Achilles' heel, or if the name ends in an "iz" sound, eg Bridges' score, Moses' tablets.   You will also be pleased to know that an exception is always made for Jesus, so Jesus' disciples.

Do I sound like someone with time on her hands, or what?

In her chapter....that would be hers? His; theirs etc.....

My surname ends in S. Can I choose to be ancient or modern?

Roberto,

First line -" hers "- correct.  No apostrophe is necessary.

Second line - after that brilliant Baseballs' video (video of The Baseballs) this morning, you can choose to be whatever you want to be, although I'm sure you're very modern!

ok now lets start saying unless you can spell, your not allowed to post. bye all.

So as a rule of thumb.

If it does not end in S, and is singular, and you would normaly say 'is' after it, then you can use an apostrophe instead of the -i-. As in Febe's confused.= Febe is confused.   Chris's confused.= Chris is confused.

If it belongs to.....

Febe's shoes. = the shoes of Febe. Chris's shoes. = the shoes of Chris.

No hang on a mo. they're both the same!

So if it's the 5th thursday in a month without an r in it, it's............

Think I better look at this agian in the morning.

Take care, Febe (confused)

Febe,

That's it!  You've got it!  Sometimes they are the same!  Don't be confused.  Life's too short.  I can't do sums, so I salute you for learning PAYE from a government information pack.

Esteban, I made no criticisms about anyone's spelling and neither did Sandra, as she explained.  My original posting was to answer Febe's question and a few other people added their observations.  I was only trying to help.

Perhaps I should add "People with a sense of humour" to the list of good things in life!

your - you're.

Goodbye, Esteban.

Now Esteban I'm sure you did'nt mean to be a Meldrew there did you?

If not, I would recomend you use an exclamation mark (one of these - ! - , just in case I spelt that wrong) after your comment. That way people can see you are joking.

If you are being a Meldrew, please go some where else to vent your spleen.

On this thread nobody minds if you can't spell.

Rosa Fay is doing a splendid job assisting me (and others) with the use of the apostrophe. She is clearly a very caring person.

Roas Fay,

Please don't rise to that sort of comment. I think it only gives them fuel to continue.

''People with a sence of homour'' added to the love list.

Thoes without, well I feel very sorry for them. Should they be rounded up and shot or made to watch Roberto's (belonging to Roberto, so - ' -  then s) u tube vidios (plain plural so no - ' -  required) untill they agree that there is a funny side to life?

I'm laughing out loud here, my husband thinks i've gone barking mad, he may have a piont!

Good night, take care. Febe

Reberto,

You're a Dimond Geezer.

  I did'nt see that, your/you're error in esteban's post, do you think he was trying to be rude? I hope not.

Good night all.

Regards, Febe

Ihateanykindofbadspelling.Itreallybugsme!It'ssohardtodterminewhatpeoplearereallytryingtosay.KnowwhatImean?

Arocdnicg to rsceearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pcale. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit pobelrm. Tihs is buseace the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

 to you all

Take a look at these, great fun. I've had trouble posting the links so, IF they don't work, paste each one into your browser, THEN they do.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe

 

Moresado,

wen I clik, nuffink áppens to any of ém¿¿??

try now!

Do not think your allowed to round people up and shoot them any more, but maybe some should be febeeee.

Sorry if seeemed lke I was doing  VICTOR. diD NOT mean at all.

Febe,

The mojito is a cocktail. They make them in the beach bar on the beach in pilar de horadadadadada. Gorgeous . I expect Jane is sat there now as we speak, lucky girlie.

Hi All,

Roberto,

Thats very interesting. When I look at your post I can clearly see the misspelt words that are the wrong shape, and whats wrong with them.  With the ones that still have the correct shape, it's far harder for me to know whats wrong with them.

More,

Those links are great, really explain it well. Well done for finding them.

Esteban,

Well if I'm not allowed to shoot them, what can I do with them?

Thank you for the apology, how ever with the little guy at the end mooning, I'm not sure you mean it.

P.S. You know when you've been Febed!

Candyfloss,

So whats in it?

I can hear a large gin and tonic calling me.

Take care, Febe