Apostrophes or is it apostrophe's?

[indysteel]

Well, y'know, right at this very moment we have the other thread going on about people who give well-meaning but unsolicited advice about diet.

The consensus in that thread is that although it's really tempting to give that sort of advice, it's also extremely inappropriate, and very hurtful to the person on the receiving end.

The difference would be ....... ?

I see some difference. What is and is not an "appropriate" diet is both highly subjective and highly personal. Grammatically correct communication is arguably neither of these things, minus the areas that are the subject of debate or style. I do think you have to tread lightly when correcting someone's grammar, but it can be done constructively and with good intentions. Perhaps I just have thicker skin about it. My boss edits my writing every day. I'm the queen of unintended typos, so red ink is my friend. I know grammar far better than he does, so I will edit his writing if necessary, too. The point is that we strive for effective communication.

Now, I must have missed the part where Veronica directed this at a particular member. I was also unaware that this has come up before with this member. Perhaps it is time to let the subject go then if past attempts have failed. If this thread was intended for her or she takes it that way, then I hope that she views it as constructive criticism. No one wants to ridicule her; at least I don't.

[Irulan]

You didn't miss it as it didn't happen. I for one was enjoying this thread as an educational discussion that we all could either contribute to or take something from. Or as they say elsewhere, "take what you like and leave the rest". Or, is that, ."?

[snapdragen]

You didn't miss it as it didn't happen. I for one was enjoying this thread as an educational discussion that we all could either contribute to or take something from. Or as they say elsewhere, "take what you like and leave the rest". Or, is that, ."?

Thank you, I thought I was losing (loosing!!!! ) my mind trying to find the singled out individual.

As a grammatically challenged individual, I appreciate this thread.




snap "who has been known to run posts through the Word grammar checker" dragen

[Eden]

I think I know of whom Knot refers, but my world is a bit happier I guess, as the thought never passed my mind that the OP was directing this at anyone in particular.

I'm not a huge grammar stickler -especially in formats like a forum, where I actually appreciate (and use) lots of non-standard punctuation to simulate more of a conversational rhythm in a written form. I think if I didn't, I might sometimes come across as a bit deadpan or be misunderstood, because no one else can hear the voice in my head that carries all of the emotion and intonations...

I've also been studying a foreign language recently, and it's an Asian one, so I have little expectation of ever being able to read more than a few words here and there.... The fact that I'm really concentrating on spoken language and trying to understand normal every day conversation has made me very aware of how incredibly different written language and spoken language really are. People simply speaking to one another rarely speak in complete formal sentences - to do so makes you sound very stilted and strange. When we write it's totally different - and I think it is because there isn't immediate context, so writing in sentence fragments becomes very difficult to understand.