'The word pedants' top 10 | It's specific, not Pacific...' blog discussion.

Flyboy152

juno wrote: »

Do you mean that? Usually people get annoyed about one before. But it's called an oxford comma and is perfectly acceptable - and I maintain it's useful!

"I like fish and chips, and peas and beans" makes much more sense that the other.

I prefer, "I like fish and chips with peas and beans." It looks cleaner, easier to read and after all, grammatically correct.

juno

Flyboy152 wrote: »

I prefer, "I like fish and chips with peas and beans." It looks cleaner, easier to read and after all, grammatically correct.

But yours says that you like them together. Mine said I like two things together, but both of those separately.

Flyboy152

etruscanshades wrote: »

Thanks! Yes I did miss that one. So are we all agreed that its not necessary to add an extra "s" after the apostrophe, but you can if you really want to? (shudders).

No, because it is the correct way to write.

Flyboy152

juno wrote: »

But yours says that you like them together. Mine said I like two things together, but both of those separately.

Then you should write, " I like fish, chips, peas and beans." Or, "I like fish and chips, I also like peas and beans."

I did wonder, as it was a rather unlikely menu choice.

Flyboy152

Paul_Varjak wrote: »

So, how come December is the twelfth month and October the tenth month?

The calender changed.

etruscanshades

Flyboy152 wrote: »

This was never the case, unless things changed after I went to school. Placing the apostrophe after the "s" denotes the plural possessive. For example, we do not say, "Countess," for the singular possesive, do we? We say, "Countesses." In fact, the apostrophe was created for that very purpose; to replace the "e." If you write "James'," it denotes there is something owned by several people called Jame.

Are you really saying that countess' is not singular possessive? I'm positive that for plural possessive it would be countesses'

Anyway I give up! Life's too short. In the grand scheme of things its not that vital. You do it your way and I'll do it mine.

Flyboy152

etruscanshades wrote: »

Are you really saying that countess' is not singular possessive? I'm positive that for plural possessive it would be countesses'

Anyway I give up! Life's too short. In the grand scheme of things its not that vital. You do it your way and I'll do it mine.

No it isn't, it is a non-existent word. The singular possessive of Countess, is Countess's.

KimYeovil

jennyjelly wrote: »

Because September used to be the 7th month, October the 8th, November the 9th and December the 10th until the calendar changed from Gregorian to Julian and July and August were added, shuffling all the others along.

shunting, surely, not shuffling

etruscanshades

"I like fish and chips, I also like peas and beans."

Strictly grammatically, those are two sentences. There should either be a full stop, semi colon, an "and" or a "but" where the comma has been placed.

How's that for pedantry? :-)

etruscanshades

Flyboy152 wrote: »

No it isn't, it is a non-existent word. The singular possessive of Countess, is Countess's.

And the plural?