go it wrong got it wrong
― the too encumbered madman (GamalielRatsey), Friday, 24 September 2010 14:53 (thirteen years ago) link
I am serious. I thought it was obviously PAST, I can't see any way on earth it could be PASSED, but a bunch of people have got me doubting myself. People who I previously thought were reasonably intelligent.
― nate woolls, Friday, 24 September 2010 14:54 (thirteen years ago) link
#1. Anything else is total lunacy.
Also recently found in a book at work: "pho-hawk." Apparently the author has a particular attachment to that horror. Should such people be killed and eaten?
― I've got ten bucks. SURPRISE ME. (Laurel), Friday, 24 September 2010 14:55 (thirteen years ago) link
God, nate, you must have thought you were going mad. Like the end of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
― the too encumbered madman (GamalielRatsey), Friday, 24 September 2010 14:56 (thirteen years ago) link
I work with a load of idiots, obviously.
― nate woolls, Friday, 24 September 2010 14:59 (thirteen years ago) link
you don't understand! my dog, who i have named "it was a pleasure to walk", had just eaten a building!
― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Friday, 24 September 2010 15:29 (thirteen years ago) link
Most amusing.
I don't understand 'pho-hawk' - what is that supposed to be?
― Running the Gantelope (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Friday, 24 September 2010 16:16 (thirteen years ago) link
faux hawk?
― teddy penderecki (c sharp major), Friday, 24 September 2010 16:23 (thirteen years ago) link
as in, the dude haircut also known as the hoxton fin
― teddy penderecki (c sharp major), Friday, 24 September 2010 16:25 (thirteen years ago) link
Faux, yes. I don't even....
― I've got ten bucks. SURPRISE ME. (Laurel), Friday, 24 September 2010 17:13 (thirteen years ago) link
Grammar folks,
What are your feelings on the tendency to refer to "a politics" or even "a politic"? Is one more correct than another? Or is it just inflated? The phrase in question is "an acerbic sexual politics".
― Dan I Wish I Was Your Lover (admrl), Sunday, 26 September 2010 16:59 (thirteen years ago) link
It has become accepted useage to say, for example, "I like his sense of humor, but not his politics." Given this useage, the phrase passes muster, but I'd suggest that if it sounds awkward in its context, change the phrase or the context to something you don't find jarring.
― Aimless, Sunday, 26 September 2010 18:18 (thirteen years ago) link
i don't understand why 'an' would go into the context given, admrl.
― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Sunday, 26 September 2010 18:31 (thirteen years ago) link
think such useage occurs frequently as part of cultural studies jargon
― dude (del), Sunday, 26 September 2010 18:39 (thirteen years ago) link
Thanks guys. I'm correcting someone else's text, which is always a little difficult. I agree about "an", though
― Dan I Wish I Was Your Lover (admrl), Sunday, 26 September 2010 18:46 (thirteen years ago) link
"Over the past 20 years, ABC Company has helped many businesses in __________ (improve) their brand."
this is for a verb conjugation exercise. obviously that "in" means it will be "improving", but...why? is it just some phrasal convention? without "in" it would be just "improve" which to me seems a bit clearer, and could also be easily understood in grammar terms.
― rent, Monday, 27 September 2010 07:11 (thirteen years ago) link
wd just go with 'to improve' myself
― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Monday, 27 September 2010 08:03 (thirteen years ago) link
Verb forms tend to be verb+ing after a preposition, but as Darragh says, there's no real need to go down that route here.
― Running the Gantelope (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Monday, 27 September 2010 10:49 (thirteen years ago) link
The rough linguist's answer is that a preposition always takes a noun phrase as argument; "improve their brand" is a (non-finite) verb phrase but "improving their brand" acts more or less like a noun phrase (e.g. "improving their brand is fun"). There some caveats and subtleties to this: nominalisations behave more idiosyncratically than other nouns, you have to accept that "to" in "to improve" is not a preposition...
― seandalai, Monday, 27 September 2010 13:43 (thirteen years ago) link
you're right, darragh, of course. missed that. prob wouldn't say the "to" in conversation tbh. totally agree it's clumsier than necessary, but that's how it appears in the gap exercise. but great explanation, thanks very much.
― rent, Tuesday, 28 September 2010 07:56 (thirteen years ago) link
you're right, darragh, of course.
^ most under-used grammatical term on ilx
― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Tuesday, 28 September 2010 09:13 (thirteen years ago) link
argh, note that this contains my biggest ongoing peeve -- businessES have brandS, plural
― oɔsıqɐu (nabisco), Tuesday, 28 September 2010 16:15 (thirteen years ago) link
Maybe ABC has helped companies improve ABC's brand.
― http://tinyurl.com/vrrr0000m (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 28 September 2010 16:34 (thirteen years ago) link
by being an awesome client!
― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 28 September 2010 16:36 (thirteen years ago) link
I don't think it's that bad - it's one way to signal that there's a single brand per business. Would you also hate on the following example? "Five of the songs contain a disco breakdown".
― seandalai, Tuesday, 28 September 2010 19:03 (thirteen years ago) link
"helped many businesses improve their brands" gets my vote.
― quincie, Tuesday, 28 September 2010 19:15 (thirteen years ago) link
I also vote to pretty much never use "help" in this sense. Weak-ass word.
― quincie, Tuesday, 28 September 2010 19:16 (thirteen years ago) link
would go with with brand singular tbh
― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Tuesday, 28 September 2010 19:16 (thirteen years ago) link
that's only playing it by ear mind
― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Tuesday, 28 September 2010 19:17 (thirteen years ago) link
ugh I'm with nabisco on the plural
― quincie, Tuesday, 28 September 2010 19:19 (thirteen years ago) link
Language Log weighs in, suggests that nabisco is on the side of predominant usage.
― seandalai, Tuesday, 28 September 2010 19:43 (thirteen years ago) link
Though I think that their example ("ostriches...bury their head") patterns slightly differently to our one.
― seandalai, Tuesday, 28 September 2010 19:48 (thirteen years ago) link
its "brands" with an "s" because "their" is referring to "businesses"--"a business" is a single thing
― max, Wednesday, 29 September 2010 07:56 (thirteen years ago) link
i.e. the sentence "the business has improved their brand" is wrong
― max, Wednesday, 29 September 2010 07:57 (thirteen years ago) link
though yes iirc british people do this the wrong way with sports teams
oh man, we had a whole thread on this, but to me those numerical agreements are a matter of basic sense and information, not context and taste. I think the example I used last time was this:
"the children are cleaning their room" = the children share one room"the children are cleaning their rooms" = there are multiple rooms
the "S" refers to the normal thing it always does -- is there more than one of a thing or not. so it's useful and gives us critical information. but now, especially since we use "their" a lot to refer to both individuals and groups, I feel like that agreement is slipping away.
― oɔsıqɐu (nabisco), Wednesday, 29 September 2010 20:37 (thirteen years ago) link
God i'm dumb...
Mr and Mrs Roberts’s Golden Wedding AnniversaryMr and Mrs Roberts’ Golden Wedding Anniversary
It's the first one, right? The family name is "Roberts"
― Crackle Box, Tuesday, 2 November 2010 15:21 (thirteen years ago) link
depends what style book you're using. i think the balance of opinion is against needing the extra s, but there are style guides that call for it.
― a tenth level which features a single castle (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 15:24 (thirteen years ago) link
thx!
― Crackle Box, Tuesday, 2 November 2010 15:32 (thirteen years ago) link
I would always use it.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 2 November 2010 15:35 (thirteen years ago) link
have heard the guide is whether or not you would pronounce the extra 's out loud - if you do, then include it. but yes it looks awkward
― dayo, Tuesday, 2 November 2010 15:36 (thirteen years ago) link
Wait, I don't think I really thought about this. If it were "Mr. Roberts's anniversary," then yes I would use it. I'm not sure about "Mr. and Mrs. Roberts's," though.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 2 November 2010 15:38 (thirteen years ago) link
You wouldn't pronounce it in this case, would you? (xp)
― Running the Gantelope (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 15:39 (thirteen years ago) link
i dunno! what are the rules for pronouncing the plural s?
― dayo, Tuesday, 2 November 2010 15:42 (thirteen years ago) link
I wouldn't have the extra S.
If it were the birthday of Mr Roberts, I'd say " Mr Roberts' Birthday "
So in this case, I'd say "Mr and Mrs Roberts' Anniversary"
No problem!
― argosgold (AndyTheScot), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 16:01 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm not sure about "Mr. and Mrs. Roberts's," though.
Actually, I think my first instinct was right. This is like "Abbott and Costello's."
― jaymc, Tuesday, 2 November 2010 16:30 (thirteen years ago) link
I hope they quarrel less than Abbott & Costello
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 17:02 (thirteen years ago) link
Is "radio appearance" an oxymoron?
― jaymc, Friday, 5 November 2010 15:45 (thirteen years ago) link
Technically perhaps but it does not leap out at me as wrong or horrendous and it seems fairly well accepted (618,000 on google v. 2 million for 'tv appearance'. What else could you say?
― xtc ep, etc (xp) (ledge), Friday, 5 November 2010 16:05 (thirteen years ago) link
I don't think anyone would question "He appeared as a guest on 'The Howard Stern Show' on Tuesday."
But that doesn't really answer your question.
― http://tinyurl.com/koalalala (Pleasant Plains), Friday, 5 November 2010 16:16 (thirteen years ago) link