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Tim May
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 10:00 pm
Post subject: Error's in "New York Time's" headline |
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Wheres William Safire when writer's really need him?
Former G.I.'s, Ordered to War, Fight Not to Go
By MONICA DAVEY
Published: November 16, 2004
The Army has encountered resistance from more than 2,000 former
soldiers it has ordered back to military work, complicating its efforts
to fill gaps in the regular troops. |
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Robert Lieblich
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 6:00 am
Post subject: Re: Error's in "New York Time's" headline |
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Tim May wrote:
| Quote: |
Wheres William Safire when writer's really need him?
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He just gave up his editorial colum'n. He plans to keep on with "On
Languag'e."
| Quote: |
Former G.I.'s, Ordered to War, Fight Not to Go
By MONICA DAVEY
Published: November 16, 2004
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There's nothing wrong with the ' in "G.I.'s." It's optional. It's
less common than the alternative form, sans apostrophes. But
forbidding it is going to far. Insisting that apostrophes can never
be used with abbreviations is both ignorant and arrogant, and most
people who say to omit this pluralizing apostrophe have the good
sense to recognize that they offering a recommendation, not a
mandate.
Aside from that, however, you're absolutely right.
--
Bob Lieblich
Not really here |
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Raymond S. Wise
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 6:00 am
Post subject: Re: Error's in "New York Time's" headline |
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"Tim May" <timcmay@removethis.got.net> wrote in message
news:161120041142358894%timcmay@removethis.got.net...
| Quote: |
Wheres William Safire when writer's really need him?
Former G.I.'s, Ordered to War, Fight Not to Go
By MONICA DAVEY
Published: November 16, 2004
The Army has encountered resistance from more than 2,000 former
soldiers it has ordered back to military work, complicating its efforts
to fill gaps in the regular troops.
|
If you believe that <G.I.'s> is not a standard plural of <G.I.> in Standard
American English then you have been misinformed. <GI's> is standard also, as
of course is <GIs>. It is now unusual to write "GI" with periods, and that
makes <G.I.'s> look a bit old-fashioned to me. However, if you are going to
use <G.I.>, the plural <G.I.'s> seems preferable to <G.I.s>, because
<G.I.'s> would represent the traditional way of representing the plural in
such terms, the form which would have been used back when it was usual to
put periods in acronyms. That was the way I was taught to do it. In the
entry for "apostrophe 2" in *The Century Dictionary* of 1895 at
www.century-dictionary.com it says that the apostrophe is "used in some
unusual or peculiar plurals, as many D. D.'s and LL. D.'s, a succession of
a's, four 9's, etc." (In the original, the example words were italicized.)
By the time I was taught how to pluralize such terms in writing, no space
would have been included: It would have been <D.D.'s>, <LL.D.'s>, but the
apostrophe was used to make the plural, and in the United States, at least,
that remains a standard usage.
--
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com |
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Alan OBrien
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 6:00 am
Post subject: Re: Error's in "New York Time's" headline |
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"Tim May" <timcmay@removethis.got.net> wrote in message
news:161120041142358894%timcmay@removethis.got.net...
| Quote: |
Wheres William Safire when writer's really need him?
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Your subject has at least two and possibly three errors.
The first line of your message (above) has two errors.
That is pretty week. |
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Julie P.
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 10:00 am
Post subject: Re: Error's in "New York Time's" headline |
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"Tim May" <timcmay@removethis.got.net> wrote in message
news:161120041142358894%timcmay@removethis.got.net...
| Quote: |
Wheres William Safire when writer's really need him?
Former G.I.'s, Ordered to War, Fight Not to Go
By MONICA DAVEY
|
there is nothing wrong here. if you want to find errors and typos, go to
cnn.com. |
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Tim May
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 10:01 am
Post subject: Re: Error's in "New York Time's" headline |
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In article <BMAmd.27508$P7.22417@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk>, Alan
OBrien <alaneobrienSPAM@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
| Quote: | "Tim May" <timcmay@removethis.got.net> wrote in message
news:161120041142358894%timcmay@removethis.got.net...
Wheres William Safire when writer's really need him?
Your subject has at least two and possibly three errors.
The first line of your message (above) has two errors.
That is pretty week.
|
As is your last line. Though I expect it was not intentional, as my
uses of apostrophes ("apostrophe's") were.
--Tim May |
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Richard R. Hershberger
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 6:00 pm
Post subject: Re: Error's in "New York Time's" headline |
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Robert Lieblich <Robert.Lieblich@Verizon.net> wrote in message news:<419ABB07.93D22D09@Verizon.net>...
| Quote: | Tim May wrote:
Wheres William Safire when writer's really need him?
He just gave up his editorial colum'n. He plans to keep on with "On
Languag'e."
|
Alas. He has a real genius for making the subject uninteresting. |
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Alan OBrien
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2004 6:00 am
Post subject: Re: Error's in "New York Time's" headline |
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"Tim May" <timcmay@removethis.got.net> wrote in message
news:161120042146189744%timcmay@removethis.got.net...
| Quote: | In article <BMAmd.27508$P7.22417@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk>, Alan
OBrien <alaneobrienSPAM@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
"Tim May" <timcmay@removethis.got.net> wrote in message
news:161120041142358894%timcmay@removethis.got.net...
Wheres William Safire when writer's really need him?
Your subject has at least two and possibly three errors.
The first line of your message (above) has two errors.
That is pretty week.
As is your last line. Though I expect it was not intentional, as my
uses of apostrophes ("apostrophe's") were.
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My use of 'week' was pretty weak - I don't know why I did that!
I also hadn't realised you were joking. Sorry about that.
Alan |
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