Discussion Forum
This is a forum to discuss the gray areas of the English language for which you would not find answers easily in dictionaries or other reference books.
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Latest Posts : Punctuation and Mechanics
If I want to say the Murphys meaning Mr. and Mrs. Murphy, is it “Murphies” or Murphy’s. I’m not using it possessively, just referring to both of them such as “The Murphy’s are a nice couple.
How do you properly punctuate an acronym such as ACS when you want to show possession? Is it ACS’s or ACS’?
I have always wondered what [sic] means. The most recent example I have seen was: ‘I supposed I could write a couple of thousands [sic] words on that trip . . . But I spare you.’ I have run across it in different contexts and never really understood what it meant. Thanks
I’m wondering if there is a general rule for capitalizing prepositions in film titles.
For instance, one of my favourite horror films is THE DEVIL RIDES OUT, but The Devil Rides out (lower-case “o”) is stylistically awkward. Or Ferris Bueller’s Day off. Or the classic example would be those saucy British comedies of yesteryear, the Carry on series -- no one can figure out whether to call them Carry Ons or Carry ons, and as for the one called Carry On Behind, ought we to start writing it Carry on behind?
Someone help me out of this spiral of confusion!!!
I have a list of Computer Programs that I am including in some documentation and have a question regarding the use of commas.
The list looks like this: “Test.prg” “Test2.prg” “Test3.prg”
If I included this list in a sentence I tend to think that the programs should be separated by commas but the commas should be outside the quotes like this: “Test.prg”, “Test2.prg”, and “Test3.prg”.
Another program says that the commas (and the period) belong inside the quotes like: “Test.prg,” “Test2.prg,” and “Test3.prg.”
I think this just looks completely idiotic. I know for most quotes, punctuation belongs inside the quotes but I believe in this instance, the quotation marks aren’t meaning dialog but just another part of the item name and so should not be treated as regular quotation marks.
Thanks,
Evan
Why does written English use so few diacritic marks compared with many other languages?
If I am writing someone’s name and the name is Lux, do I write Lux’ or Lux’s to show possesion?
When using the parents in a sentence and referring to both of them, is the ‘ put before or after the s. For example I see you are selling your parents’ home.
Does a footnote reference go before or after a punctuation mark.
for example: see explanation below**. or see explanation below.**
Say you had a band, called Eels, or the Eels. Now would you say the Eels’s debut album, or the Eels’ debut album. As Eels is a name, but a plural name, and you aren’t talking about the debut album of several eels. I’m sorry to ask. It’s the one apostrophe trouble I have.
