on another subject, why is it "i'm fabulous aren't i?" when "are" does not agree with "i".
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 16 July 2009 16:27 (fourteen years ago) link
It should be "am I not?" Is that usually looked upon as being grammatically correct?
― http://tinyurl.com/lrhdut (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 16 July 2009 16:29 (fourteen years ago) link
distri-bute, she says is wrong; distrib-ute is right
where the hell is she coming up with this stuff?
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Thursday, 16 July 2009 16:30 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't know of any hard and fast rules, but it seems like Webster's generally avoids having hyphens come after a short vowel. So in the example you cite, "funeral pro-cession" is OK because the O in "pro" is a long vowel, but "pro-cessed the claims" is not OK because the first syllable there sounds like "prah."
― max readroom (jaymc), Thursday, 16 July 2009 16:30 (fourteen years ago) link
That sounds crazy, Abbs.
― http://tinyurl.com/lrhdut (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 16 July 2009 16:30 (fourteen years ago) link
PP yeah but i guess my question is more why does "aren't i" even SOUND right? it shouldn't at all!!
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 16 July 2009 16:31 (fourteen years ago) link
However! My Webster's does break it as "pro-cess," presumably because no one actually pronounces "proc" as a single syllable. Like I said, there are no hard and fast rules. In the case of "distribute," however, Webster's does go with your editor, and I'm inclined to agree.
― max readroom (jaymc), Thursday, 16 July 2009 16:33 (fourteen years ago) link
("Proc-ess" might also suggest that the C is to be pronounced as a hard C, so yeah, all around I think "pro-cess" is better.)
― max readroom (jaymc), Thursday, 16 July 2009 16:35 (fourteen years ago) link
Ok good to know, I am just tired of re-hyphenating all these random words at her behest every week.
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Thursday, 16 July 2009 16:38 (fourteen years ago) link
FYI, I went with "or"; this came back to me changed back to "and."
That's why you should have gone with "at least"!
― suddenly, everything was dark and smelly (HI DERE), Thursday, 16 July 2009 16:39 (fourteen years ago) link
I know. :/
― max readroom (jaymc), Thursday, 16 July 2009 16:44 (fourteen years ago) link
my guess: we started using it as a sonic substitute as amn't fell out of favor
my recommendation: tell people you're part Scottish and say amnae
― nabisco, Thursday, 16 July 2009 17:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Can't seem to find an answer to this by googling...when you are talking about U.S. administrations -- e.g. the Bush administration, the Reagan administration etc., does administration have a capital A? I seem to remember being told that you talk about a government but the Government, but I don't know if the principle is the same.
― Cathy, Monday, 3 August 2009 10:25 (fourteen years ago) link
I would say yes.
― free jazz and mumia (sarahel), Monday, 3 August 2009 10:28 (fourteen years ago) link
I would say no, and I wouldn't capitalize "the Government," either. But house styles may vary.
― jaymc, Monday, 3 August 2009 13:24 (fourteen years ago) link
AP says lower case for "administration".
― http://tinyurl.com/bapppp (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 3 August 2009 20:31 (fourteen years ago) link
usage question: do you think the phrase "rest assured" requires an object (e.g., "rest assured that we're working on it"), or do you think one can rest assured in the abstract? (like, just resting, feeling assured. of nothing in particular.)
― nabisco, Monday, 3 August 2009 23:08 (fourteen years ago) link
i'd say the latter. merriam-webster may say differently, but i think it's perfectly OK to use "assured" to mean a state of mind, so it'd be just like writing "rest happy"
― 8080's and internet break (k3vin k.), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 01:41 (fourteen years ago) link
m-w links assured² (noun) to "insured", but fuck that imo
― 8080's and internet break (k3vin k.), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 01:43 (fourteen years ago) link
Re the winning margin in a horse race: "two and three-quarters lengths" or "two and three-quarter lengths"? Converting to numerals is not an option, alas.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:37 (fourteen years ago) link
Latter is more popular on Google, but the former feels more correct, since it's basically "two lengths and three-quarters of a length," right?
― jaymc, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:38 (fourteen years ago) link
or three fourths, yes.
― free jazz and mumia (sarahel), Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:39 (fourteen years ago) link
Maybe it just looks jarring to people because of the two plurals right next to each other.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh wait, new alternative:
Results 1 - 10 of about 3,050 for "two and three-quarters lengths". (0.12 seconds)Results 1 - 10 of about 66,300 for "two and three-quarter lengths". (0.15 seconds) Results 1 - 10 of about 249,000 for "two and three-quarters of a length". (0.14 seconds)
― jaymc, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:43 (fourteen years ago) link
three quarter-lengths
― conrad, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:44 (fourteen years ago) link
the only thing I can think of is that horse racing may have special conventions for stuff like that ...but on the other hand ... would you say three-quarters pound burger or three-quarter pound burger?
― free jazz and mumia (sarahel), Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:45 (fourteen years ago) link
xxp Never mind, that's Google up to its old tricks, where it says "249,000 results" and then you click to the second page and find out that it's "omitted" some "similar" entries and that there are really only 17 hits.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:45 (fourteen years ago) link
xp Neither, I'm a pescatarian.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 18 August 2009 22:46 (fourteen years ago) link
Quick question on US style re: quote marks and punctuation (that old chestnut). Does the "punctuation inside" rule apply even with things that aren't direct quotations, as in:
The film tells the story of the "People's Princess".
or
The film tells the story of the "People's Princess."
?
― Alba, Wednesday, 19 August 2009 10:29 (fourteen years ago) link
Yes.
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 19 August 2009 10:30 (fourteen years ago) link
I know it's hard to believe but in American English I don't really think there are any exceptions to putting periods and commas inside quotation marks.
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 19 August 2009 10:36 (fourteen years ago) link
Thanks.
― Alba, Wednesday, 19 August 2009 10:39 (fourteen years ago) link
Someone who is not my friend but whose comments I can see on facecase just wrote: "I was in main and got to see the wales to." It's like a perfect shitstorm of eye-stabbing.
― that stupid-ass cannibal pen-pal of yours (Laurel), Tuesday, 15 September 2009 22:38 (fourteen years ago) link
I would friend that person just to berate them, then unfriend.
― Mario Brosephs (Pancakes Hackman), Tuesday, 15 September 2009 22:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Corduroy wales, surely.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 15 September 2009 22:53 (fourteen years ago) link
"to" is Welsh for "roof" and "main" is Welsh for "lean" -- maybe it's a complicated pun
― nabisco, Tuesday, 15 September 2009 23:06 (fourteen years ago) link
facecase!
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 16 September 2009 02:02 (fourteen years ago) link
facecase.
Supposed to edit the questions for a multiple choice test. For the answer choices, complete sentences end with a period, fragments/numbers/etc. don't end with punctuation. What about choices such as "Yes" and "No"?
― Super Smize (Leee), Saturday, 26 September 2009 05:15 (fourteen years ago) link
Have any of you ever heard or used the word "timeously"?
― Maria :D, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 23:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Not until just now. Seeing as it's just about universally defined as the exact same as "timely," perhaps you can be one of the last speakers of English to help euthanize it.
― nabisco, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 23:59 (fourteen years ago) link
I just came across it in a translation. "Timely" has the problem of being an awkward adverb. I always end up using "in a timely fashion" (in contracts and official documents).
― Maria :D, Thursday, 1 October 2009 00:17 (fourteen years ago) link
oh right, that's completely true -- that's a big point of utility for it. (and makes defining it as just "timely" sort of ... bad, actually.)
― nabisco, Thursday, 1 October 2009 00:31 (fourteen years ago) link
I thought it was even more wussy than "timorously."
― Beth Parker, Thursday, 1 October 2009 14:29 (fourteen years ago) link
so you know how everyone has that one grammar thing that they can't ever get right? your/you're, who/who, it's/its etc. well mine is effect/affect. can someone help me 2 understand :-/?
― baby girl lemme snrub up on you (J0rdan S.), Friday, 2 October 2009 20:41 (fourteen years ago) link
ha - who/that**
WHO THAT
― wH1N1 g. swinegarten (k3vin k.), Friday, 2 October 2009 20:43 (fourteen years ago) link
affect is usually a verb, ie "[x] affects [y]"effect is usually a noun, ie "[x] has an effect on [y]"
that's the simplified version i guess
― wH1N1 g. swinegarten (k3vin k.), Friday, 2 October 2009 20:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Copyeditors and Grammar Fiends, we that
― baby girl lemme snrub up on you (J0rdan S.), Friday, 2 October 2009 20:45 (fourteen years ago) link
thank u kev