Word and Grammar Rage

Sentences without verbs, anyone?

quote:

And never forget, revolting pedants, our cause is an ancient one. For was it not in the 14th Century that Which Tyler was the leader of the Pedants' Revolt?

What?

Watt Tyler was the leader of the 14th Century Peasants' Revolt.

Watt Tyler - pun to homophone What Tyler - grammar corrected, pedantically, to Which Tyler - hence 'Which Tyler was the leader of the Pedants' Revolt'.

Jokes always fall flat when you explain them. But it is one of my favourites, along with:

Q. What do you call a car you've seen before?
A. Deux Chevaux (2CV). (pun on Deja vu)

Sorry should have included:-

etc etc.

He was a local.

I think it would be most helpful if someone could correct the offending posts, in red, and give a mark out of ten.
Thank you.

Saw a couple of beauts the other day which bought the pedant in me to the fore....On a bag of builders sand fom a large DIY chain...'None Returnable' & how about..'Sensible Priced' van hire...AAARRGH.

quote:

Jokes always fall flat when you explain them. But it is one of my favourites, along with:

Q. What do you call a car you've seen before?
A. Deux Chevaux (2CV). (pun on Deja vu)

With respect, that is not a pun because in French diction the two phrases do not sound at all alike. Even where you come from, I doubt they would sound the same...

Deux Che-vaux De-ja vu.

Anything's possible in Norfolk, old boy

I hate the misuse of the word "quote", as in, "It's a quote by Martin Luther King."

A quote for what, exactly? Plumbing?

quote:

Originally posted by Deane F:
I hate the misuse of the word "quote", as in, "It's a quote by Martin Luther King."

A quote for what, exactly? Plumbing?

So do I. "Quotation", surely.

quote:

Originally posted by Dr Hyde:
I think it would be most helpful if someone could correct were to correct the offending posts, in red, and give a mark out of ten.
Thank you.

You're welcome.

quote:

Originally posted by Major-Tom:
Saw a couple of beauts the other day which bought the pedant in me to the fore....On a bag of builders sand fom a large DIY chain...'None Returnable' & how about..'Sensible Priced' van hire...AAARRGH.

I think "None Returnable" is acceptable: it just means that none of the sand is returnable. Personally, I can't stand the use of capital letters to evoke some sort of spurious importance.
Oh, and let's be forgiving and assume the missing apostrophe in "builders sand" is a slip of the fingers!

quote:

Oh, and let's be forgiving and assume the missing apostrophe in "builders sand" is a slip of the fingers!

Why an apostrophe?

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:

quote:

Oh, and let's be forgiving and assume the missing apostrophe in "builders sand" is a slip of the fingers!

Why an apostrophe?

To indicate the possessive, i.e. 'builder's sand' or should it be 'builders' sand'?!!

Just sand used by builders. No ownership required.Not beach,sharp or play sand.
Unless it's a product name and then it would capitalised.

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:
Just sand used by builders. No ownership required.Not beach,sharp or play sand.
Unless it's a product name and then it would capitalised.

I toyed with putting the apostrophe in, but decided,as BigH did, that no posession is implied & omitted it. Surely they meant 'non-returnable'

In this sense, 'the possesive' doesn't only refer to 'owned by', it also includes 'used by'.

With the definite arcticle, "The builder's (or builders') sand." Sand belonging to, or used by a single (or plural) builder(s).

Without the definite arcticle, "Builders' sand." Generic sand used by builders.

quote:

Originally posted by JWM:
In this sense, 'the possesive' doesn't only refer to 'owned by', it also includes 'used by'.

With the definite arcticle, "The builder's (or builders') sand." Sand belonging to, or used by a single (or plural) builder(s).

Without the definite arcticle, "Builders' sand." Generic sand used by builders.

Wow, you've out pedanted me JWM, I'll bow to your superior knowledge. Apostrophe aside, I still think it should be 'non-returnable'.
The question is, where do we draw the line between the maintainance of standards and pedantry? Some word combinations or phrases leap out at me because they just look wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by JWM:
Some of my own beefs ...

In typed work, not having a double space between sentences.

Where's this from ? I used to do this, but don't anymore. I think I get a green wiggle from Msoft Word if I double space sentences.

Peter

p.s. I think I'm open to attack, I should have terminated the first sentence with a verb. Yes?

I completely agree with you. I'm not sure that I would really insist on "Builders' Sand". It is possible to overstep 'pedantry' into plain 'ar*y'...

But "non-returnable" is essential.

Which - thinking laterally - reminds me of another thing that really gets my goat.

The word meaning 'liable to catch fire' or 'easily ignited'. 'Flammable' when 'inflammable' is meant. Aaarrghhh.

Yes. I thought 'inflammable'was correct as well. However, a pike in the Collins New English dictionary reveals that..."Flammable & inflammable are interchangeable when used of the properties of materials, flammable being preferred for warning labels as there is less likelihood of misunderstanding. Inflammable being sometimes taken to mean NOT flammable."
...By who I wonder! (or is it whom?)

Americans

quote:

Originally posted by User34:

quote:

Originally posted by JWM:
Some of my own beefs ...

In typed work, not having a double space between sentences.

Where's this from ?

It's a convention dating from the time of manual typewriters and fixed width characters existing purely to improve readability. One version of this convention (which I still use) is the use of double spacing after other ways of terminating sentences (question marks and exclamation marks) and strong ways of terminating clauses (colons, semi-colons, but not commas).

quote:

Originally posted by Major-Tom:

quote:

Originally posted by JWM:
In this sense, 'the possesive' doesn't only refer to 'owned by', it also includes 'used by'.

With the definite arcticle, "The builder's (or builders') sand." Sand belonging to, or used by a single (or plural) builder(s).

Without the definite arcticle, "Builders' sand." Generic sand used by builders.

Wow, you've out pedanted me JWM, I'll bow to your superior knowledge. Apostrophe aside, I still think it should be 'non-returnable'.
The question is, where do we draw the line between the maintainance of standards and pedantry? Some word combinations or phrases leap out at me because they just look wrong.

I think JWM is definitive on 'builders sand' and I agree 'non-returnable' is right and must have been what was meant. It's just that 'none returnable' isn't actually wrong.

As for the limits of pedantry, there can be none! One enters the game with trepidation (and a willingness to use a spell checker).

Surely the correct term is "building sand", is it not?
Regards,
Dave