I often find grammar/spelling mistakes in published books. I understand it's hard to edit the whole thing perfectly and when the rule is a bit foggy, it can be rough. One example of a foggy rule is how to deal with quotations marks with commas, semi colons, colons, and periods. I won't write all the ins and outs of it, but the reason periods came to be inside quotation marks is due to the fact that when movable type was used, printers would put the period inside of the quotations so the metal that made up the physical period would not get bent during the printing process. If it was inside of the quotations, it was protected, and wouldn't get destroyed. Anyhow, here are some other interesting grammar/spelling things I've discovered as of late.
Barbecue can also be spelled barbeque.
Cancelled can also be spelled canceled.
Personal names that end with a s should add a 's to the end, but last names should not (e.g. Charles's vs. Hess').
And did you know that the period is not always supposed to go after the parentheses?
6 comments:
It is all a matter of Usage. Grammer "correctness" is always changing because of the way people use and interpret those grammer rules. Don Norton, a BYU professor, is an expert on "usage." An example, when refering to Chris' clothes, it is now considered correct usage to use either just the apostrophe or add an apostrophe "s"--Chris' or Chris's.
Gee, I'm getting confused with all of this stuff. But, like you said, if using an apostrophe or an apostrophe-s are both correct, then I guess I have no need to worry. Thanks for the insight.
Any one familiar with linguistics knows that there is truly no "proper" way to speak. What is "proper" is what people actually say. You only care about what is proper because of the "man." The "man" is trying to chain you down. But don't let the "man" win! Join with me now in breaking free from the chains of propriety created by the "man." I mean, the "man". Or, the ""Mayon';".. Speakers and Writers of the English Language, UNITE!!! Actually, do what ever you want because linguistics tells us that there are no rules if we don't want there to be any rules.
So this is strange. I just figured out that you could spell cancelled, canceled as well! How crazy. However, when I see canceled, I think canCEELED, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm reading Jane Eyre right now, and I underline all the words I need to look up. Needless to say, the book is quite covered in green.
okay, here's one... when you've got a list you put commas after each thing, right? so do you also put a comma after the thing that comes before the conjunction that comes before the last thing. ex: Maverick has candy, sodas, beer, frozen yogurt, donuts, cigarettes(,) and nachos for sale. comma or no comma?
I, too, have had this same question, especially lately at work. Some people prefer the comma after cigarettes, while others do not. I think you can do both and no cold, hard, rule exists. Gosh, Maverick's got everything.
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