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Molly Mockford
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 4:22 am
Post subject: "Test the Nation" - English |
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A right answer, but in my view a wrong explanation, tonight on "Test the
Nation" - it was correct that the way to refer to the Palace of St James
is "St James's" rather than "St James'" - but the explanation they gave
was that this was the format for "a possessive on any noun ending in S".
Now, I was taught that this should only apply to nouns ending in a
single S (sound rather than letter) - in other words, "James's" is
absolutely correct, but "Francis's" is wrong, and should be "Francis'",
and I think none of us would say "the Joneses's house" instead of "the
Joneses' house" (although we might, perhaps, say "the Jones house" and
avoid the possessive entirely).
Others' views?
--
Molly Mockford
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin
(My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.)
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Matti Lamprhey
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 5:12 am
Post subject: Re: "Test the Nation" - English |
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"Molly Mockford" <nospamnobody@mollymockford.me.uk> wrote...
| Quote: | A right answer, but in my view a wrong explanation, tonight on "Test
the Nation" - it was correct that the way to refer to the Palace of St
James is "St James's" rather than "St James'" - but the explanation
they gave was that this was the format for "a possessive on any noun
ending in S".
Now, I was taught that this should only apply to nouns ending in a
single S (sound rather than letter) - in other words, "James's" is
absolutely correct, but "Francis's" is wrong, and should be
"Francis'", and I think none of us would say "the Joneses's house"
instead of "the Joneses' house" (although we might, perhaps, say
"the Jones house" and avoid the possessive entirely).
Others' views?
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I thought exactly the same.
Matti |
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Nick Wagg
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:09 pm
Post subject: Re: "Test the Nation" - English |
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"Molly Mockford" <nospamnobody@mollymockford.me.uk> wrote in message
news:MYgb6FG6aESDFwnM@molly.mockford...
| Quote: | A right answer, but in my view a wrong explanation, tonight on "Test the
Nation" - it was correct that the way to refer to the Palace of St James
is "St James's" rather than "St James'" - but the explanation they gave
was that this was the format for "a possessive on any noun ending in S".
Now, I was taught that this should only apply to nouns ending in a
single S (sound rather than letter) - in other words, "James's" is
absolutely correct, but "Francis's" is wrong, and should be "Francis'",
and I think none of us would say "the Joneses's house" instead of "the
Joneses' house" (although we might, perhaps, say "the Jones house" and
avoid the possessive entirely).
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I'm not convinced that it was the right answer but I agree that
the explanation was poor.
Similarly, the explanation of the difference between "less" and
"fewer" was not exactly clear either. Much better to have used
a variation of the example of screen, viz. "less potato" but
"fewer potatoes".
Damn. Caught out by "inoculate", again!
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