"A" vs "An" ....grammar trivia

[RedHedd]

You can make Word use "smart quotes" (right and left facing sets as appropriate) by changing your options. You have to dig to get to it, but once you set it, it will make nice pretty curly appostrophes and quotation marks every time. The only time it gets confuzzled is if you make edits.

[Catty1]

Actually, I HAVE heard "an historic" used in speech, without the H - usually, it is for a more formal event, even on a newscast. The launching of the Titanic was an event that could have been described that way.

[Suki Wingy]

I have another question about quotation marks. I always use ". When (or would you ever) use ' as quotation marks??

It is also correct in British writing, I believe.

[Miss Z]

Actually, I HAVE heard "an historic" used in speech, without the H - usually, it is for a more formal event, even on a newscast. The launching of the Titanic was an event that could have been described that way.

In my local dialect I would probably say 'an 'istoric'. Although when typing I still think it is appropriate to use the correct grammar.

It is also correct in British writing, I believe.

Yeah, I was always taught " is for speech, ' is an apostrophe or for quotation.

[Catty1]

Zara, speaking of dialect - WAY before you were born, Petula Clark made her first appearance on a North American TV show - I THINK it was Ed Sullivan.

Anyway, "Pet" told Ed that the British were the only people that had a word to rhyme with "orange".

"What's that?" asked Ed.

"Door'inge," she replied.

[shais_mom]

the....only.....thing......that.....reallly.....
sends...me......BATTY.....CATTY....is....this..... can .....you......guess.....what.......that.......is?? ???....
or,,,this,,,,does,,,,it,,,,make,,,,,sense,,,,,,at, ,,,alll,,,,,

and one b/c I said it wrong for so many years and my mom was on my arse about it for so long that its become a pet peeve.
I've seen that movie before. (proper)
I seen that movie before. (improper)
I saw that movie before.(im/proper???) it sounds correct when saying it out loud.

and when I go back to edit this
there is no space b/n the se nds - I even changed the word and it still put a space in there.
ohh I put in a return and it didn't separate it.
weird

[jennielynn1970]

the....only.....thing......that.....reallly.....se nds...me......BATTY.....is....this.....can .....you......guess.....what.......that.......is?? ???....

Gee..... I have no idea who does that.... at all.

Ya know, I never used to do that elipse thing, but started it about a year ago, at least. I annoy myself when I do it, lol.

[G535]

People who should be reading this thread won't as they don't realise that they're making mistakes.

[Miss Z]

Zara, speaking of dialect - WAY before you were born, Petula Clark made her first appearance on a North American TV show - I THINK it was Ed Sullivan.

Anyway, "Pet" told Ed that the British were the only people that had a word to rhyme with "orange".

"What's that?" asked Ed.

"Door'inge," she replied.

LMAO!

[Cinder & Smoke]

the....only.....thing......that.....reallly.....se nds...me......BATTY.....is....this.....

can .....you......guess.....what.......that.......is?? ???....

:eek;

OMG!

Is she talkin about **ME** ?



-------------------------------

And you're RIGHT ... the "sends" shows on the prieview as "sends" -
all tucked in together ---
but when it displays as the real post --- "sends" splits into "se nds".

HOW's it do dat?

[Taz_Zoee]

the....only.....thing......that.....reallly.....se nds...me......BATTY.....is....this.....can .....you......guess.....what.......that.......is?? ???....
or,,,this,,,,does,,,,it,,,,make,,,,,sense,,,,,,at, ,,,alll,,,,,

I work with a woman that ALWAYS writes (emails) like this. As I read her emails I say - dot dot dot. She even does it when emailing outside the company. Obviously she doesn't do it between EVERY word....but between every thought......like this.....

And G535, you are absolutely correct. That is why I AM reading it, because I know I am guilty of many errors. Hee hee.

[smokey the elder]

Let's face it, English grammar (and spelling!) is a horror show. I think we all have our pet peeves and such, and it's best to keep a sense of humor about it all.

[smokey the elder]

In the spirit of good fun, I offer the following link, often attributed to the late Isaac Asimov: http://www.grrr.net/spelling.html

[Suki Wingy]

That hurt my head!

[Randi]

In the spirit of good fun, I offer the following link, often attributed to the late Isaac Asimov: http://www.grrr.net/spelling.html

l love it!! A modified version of this old one:


An interesting article highlighting British power over Germany

The European Union have recently announced that finally an 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 negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and as such has accepted a five year phased plan to implement what will become known as EuroEnglish .

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 replased 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 replased 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, which have always been a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent "e"s in the languag is disgrasful and they wil 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 kore be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters .

After zis fifz year, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer.

Ze drem vil finali kum tru !