Re: Grammer, punctuation and typographical errors.
 

In the newspaper racket we had a style guide from the Associated Press that we had to follow, and also a local style guide.

Our style guides approached two inches thick. (See? There is the use of the newspaper style in that last sentence. Numerals under 10 were spelled; those 10 and over were to appear in numerals. I have no idea why. I knew at one time, but its not important now.)

Also, I have to look up the use of its and it's every time, except this time.

Re: Grammer, punctuation and typographical errors.
 

Tony, Tony, Tony,

Yankin' our collective chain with that last one, huh? "It's" and "its" - a lot of us really do have to stop and think about that one. I have to think of that apostrophe as a teeny tiny "i" that has been left out. Those possessive pronouns kill us with their lack of apostrophes.


I posted "Ode to the Spell Checker" in this thread the other day. Sometime (or is it some time?) I will post "Ode to the Apostrophe." I don't know who wrote "Ode to the Spell Checker" but I wrote "Ode to the Apostrophe" many years ago. With a nod to Joyce Kilmer, the first line is "I hope that I will never see another misplaced apostrophe." I will have to find it and post the rest some day, someday, some time, sometime. Aaaugh! I really must get a life.

Re: Grammer, punctuation and typographical errors.
 

"I hope that I will never see another misplaced apostrophe . . . ."

Oh my gawd! Joyce would roll over in her grave!

Re: Grammer, punctuation and typographical errors.
 

Tony,

My second line was "Apostrophes ubiquitously pressed in front of each and every "s"

I can't remember the rest of it. It is buried in my files somewhere, but not as far down as it is buried in my brain.

As soon as I log out of here, I am going to Amazon to see if I can find that style manual. I have spent my literate life in search of the perfect style manual. Perhaps this is it.

Now, I really, really, really must get a life.

Re: Grammer, punctuation and typographical errors.
 

Boomer,

I told my wife, "Wait until Boomer sees my reference to Joyce Kilmer as a her."

And you made no comment, let me down. sigh. I have lost my touch.

Re: Grammer, punctuation and typographical errors.
 

Tony,

You know that did cross my mind, but I was not completely sure (one of those things buried in my brain) and I was too lazy to look it up last night. And I could not just wing it. I had already (gently) beaten up Talk Host yesterday for something that was not even his fault.

Oh well, can you imagine how hard Joyce's life was with such a name. At least the boy named Sue was tough and not driven to writing lame poetry that would serve only to provide fodder for parody.

Re: Grammer, punctuation and typographical errors.
 

I went to school with a girl named Michael.

I never really wanted to say I had a date with Michael for Saturday night.

Re: Grammer, punctuation and typographical errors.
 

I went out with a girl named Sue who looked more like a boy-- a young Jimmy Durante. http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Jimmy-...s_i340049_.htm :joke: