"its" or "it's" ?

[CP140]

you forgot one.... (cambridge in) color/ (cambridge in) colour

Nope... didn't forget it.. hence the ellipsis (not ellipses) in my post. Just thought I would be belabouring the point.

Now if you'll excuse me it's time for me to grab my toque and toboggan so I can go sliding... hmm... perhaps a shot of whisk(e)y before I go..

In all seriousness, during the first few classes of my last undergrad degree the Dean explained the guidelines when submitting written work. When asked about words with dual spellings (e.g. labour/labor) he stated he didn't care which way a word was spelled as long as it was spelt consistently.

[Inkanyezi]

Being a furriner, my take on it is that I'm trying to do it consistently, but it is indeed very difficult to know whether one or the other spelling would be the correct one. As in the case of practise/practice, where I just guess that BE uses s where AE uses c. OTOH, sometimes both spellings might exist with different meanings. I cannot really tell. When I look it up in my dictionaries, often there isn't any clue, much less so when trying to find it on the Internet. Then English isn't presently my second language, but comes third in a row of several. With the abundance of loans from foreign languages, often I just have to guess how something would be spelt in English, when borrowed from any of the other languages that I also use.

So I am trying to do it best as I can, with BE spelling mostly, but sometimes an American spelling might slip into my scribblings. I think it's really no big deal. I bother much more about similar issues in my own mother language, Swedish, where the most common fault is separation of combined words. But there are scores of other issues as well, of similar type as the ones discussed here. I regard English language sites as "international" rather than belonging to a particular ethnic sphere, so I put up with language errors as long as I can interpret the meaning of what's posted. In forums that are Swedish however, it is much more of an annoyance to me, and I really believe, that those committing these types of errors are more often native speakers of the language than foreigners. Some of the examples are typical, and from mainly American sites or discussion groups they spread over the globe, so that for example "loser" is often written as "looser" also when used as a loan word.

And the spell checker? I didn't think the site has one, but I do have a spell checker in my web browser. It can be set for British or American English, and the default setting is to American, and I leave it on. however, it doesn't know grammar, and any spelling that results in a real word, whether it fits in the context or not, will pass, while of course all odd British spellings get a red underline. Then I know that I probably spelled it right.

[AB26]

We're all generally quite demanding , that's why we're here in this fantastic forum.

Now I'm going to go out on a limb
I hope you don't mind; I'm not demanding
Tony

Tony, Tony Tony, your language!
It is not "We're" it should be we are That's - that is I'm - I am don't should be do not

Oh yes, my native tongue is not English.

As long as people here do not start using Mixit language.

[nimitzbenedicto]

Being a furriner, my take on it is that I'm trying to do it consistently, but it is indeed very difficult to know whether one or the other spelling would be the correct one. As in the case of practise/practice, where I just guess that BE uses s where AE uses c. OTOH, sometimes both spellings might exist with different meanings. I cannot really tell. When I look it up in my dictionaries, often there isn't any clue, much less so when trying to find it on the Internet. Then English isn't presently my second language, but comes third in a row of several. With the abundance of loans from foreign languages, often I just have to guess how something would be spelt in English, when borrowed from any of the other languages that I also use.

So I am trying to do it best as I can, with BE spelling mostly, but sometimes an American spelling might slip into my scribblings. I think it's really no big deal. I bother much more about similar issues in my own mother language, Swedish, where the most common fault is separation of combined words. But there are scores of other issues as well, of similar type as the ones discussed here. I regard English language sites as "international" rather than belonging to a particular ethnic sphere, so I put up with language errors as long as I can interpret the meaning of what's posted. In forums that are Swedish however, it is much more of an annoyance to me, and I really believe, that those committing these types of errors are more often native speakers of the language than foreigners. Some of the examples are typical, and from mainly American sites or discussion groups they spread over the globe, so that for example "loser" is often written as "looser" also when used as a loan word.

And the spell checker? I didn't think the site has one, but I do have a spell checker in my web browser. It can be set for British or American English, and the default setting is to American, and I leave it on. however, it doesn't know grammar, and any spelling that results in a real word, whether it fits in the context or not, will pass, while of course all odd British spellings get a red underline. Then I know that I probably spelled it right.

Yes, it does seem so. Native English posters don't seem native English speakers.

Altho , my first language is Ilocano, I misspell a lotta Ilocano words.
I mix up past - present - future tenses. Use a lotta slang . colloquialisms too.

but, perhaps, like my laptop, some keys are stuck.

hehehe

[Kris V]

i fink yool find that their r stil sum peepil hu r taykeen piktyurs but im hav'n moor fun reedin granma bookes write now.

[Dave Humphries]

Cannot make out whether the missing space after a punctuation mark is deliberate or not. There seem to be quite a few posts written this way recently.

I agree, it seems too prevalent to be accidental - I'm sure some institution, somewhere, is 'educating' people incorrectly.

I was taught to put two spaces after a fullstop, but unfortunately, most web browsers cut that down to one regardless of my intent. I'll just try that now and see how it appears. (Yes it took one out)

I can appreciate how English is a tricky language, so many different spellings of words that sound identical when spoken;
to, two, too (and tutu)
sight, site

Hey, that's given me an idea; perhaps we should all listen to CiC with text to speech converters and be oblivious to the odd error that creeps in.

I believe I get 'advice' and 'advise' correct, but I freely admit to guessing at 'license' or 'licence' (and when there's a 'd' at the end).

I never could get my head around French (or any other language) where the words have 'sex' (ooh-err ) You know what I mean; le, la, les(?) - although plural I get, (e.g. do, does, etc.), but what is the point in spelling/saying it differently whether it is said by, or about, a man or a woman? Never did get it, as you can probably detect from the (no doubt) silly way I raise it here

Cheers,

[stuck]

Amusing thread.

But seriously I have no wish to americanise my English and that spell check really needs to be fixed. On the positive side, when it redlines my words, I know I am right!

Umm, I think you will find that the spell checker has nothing to do with CiC; it is your browser that is at fault.

You can make Firefox spell check in real (i.e. British) English by installing the British English dictionary. I don't know if there is an equivalent for IE.

Ken

[stuck]

whisk(e)y

That's an easy one:
Scotch Whisky
Irish Whiskey

Unless I've missed it, no one has mentioned the confusion of 'them' and 'those'. My sons learnt early on that, "The use of them instead of those makes steam come out of mother's nose."

Ken

[drjuice]

If you're into English grammar and spelling, you might like:

http://4114us.net/COMMON/WritingIssues.pdf

which another professor and I developed while we were teaching for the University of Phoenix. It is still a work in progress and is not yet ordered in any particular structure. We have in mind to do that when we have six minutes to rub together.

We used to tell our students that we expected their websites' textual content to be presented in standard English and that we'd give them the first assignment to demonstrate that they didn't need any additional help with writing standard English. Then, when we'd grade the first assignments (the average number of grammatical and/or spelling errors in three years worth of first assignments was 47 per student per web page). After returning those assignments we never had any issues with including what we called "The Secrets of Miss Meyers and Sister Mary Margaret Aloysius" as the second 20 minute segment of our three hour classes. ;~)

Enjoy!

virginia

[Didace]

I was taught to put two spaces after a fullstop, but unfortunately, most web browsers cut that down to one regardless of my intent. I'll just try that now and see how it appears. (Yes it took one out)

Two spaces was the standard when typewriters had a fixed space for each letter and punctuation. If only one space was used after a period (see what I did there) it made for difficult reading. With the advent of proportional spaced fonts on computers the second space became unnecessary. Most style guides now have one space as the standard.

I find it impossible to not put in the second space when typing even if I am consciously trying to use only one. The thumb automatically hits the space bar twice.

[pnodrog]

areyousurespacesarenotjustawasteofspace?

[Inkanyezi]

That's an easy one:
Scotch Whisky
Irish Whiskey

Albanach: uisce bé
Eirenach: uisce beatha

Tá beagán Gaeilge agam chom maith.

[Scott Stephen]

Here are my other pet peeves:

1.) Misuse of "to, too and two."

2.) The "green grocer's apostrophe." (Using an apostrophe on plural words for no good reason. ex: "apple's 2 for $1.00").

3.) Relevant here: Pronouncing "photographer" as if it were spelled "fer-tographer". Almost everyone does this in America, even photographers and news presenters and teachers. No one says that they took a "ferto" instead of a "photo" but everyone calls the person who took it the "fertographer".

[davidedric]

Two spaces was the standard when typewriters had a fixed space for each letter and punctuation. If only one space was used after a period (see what I did there) it made for difficult reading. With the advent of proportional spaced fonts on computers the second space became unnecessary. Most style guides now have one space as the standard.

I find it impossible to not put in the second space when typing even if I am consciously trying to use only one. The thumb automatically hits the space bar twice.

My mum was a typist and taught me three spaces are needed. So my thumb automatically hits three times (dammit, it just did), and it drives me mad that this post won't show it.

[Mito]

Those of old enough to remember the rhyme "Twinkle, twinkle, little star......" might like this arrangement.

Starkle, starkle, little twink,
Who the hell I are you think,
I'm not under the affluence of inkerhol,
As some thinkle peep I am.

Sorry forgotten the original.

[Tony M]

If you're into English grammar and spelling, you might like:

http://4114us.net/COMMON/WritingIssues.pdf

which another professor and I developed while we were teaching for the University of Phoenix. It is still a work in progress and is not yet ordered in any particular structure. We have in mind to do that when we have six minutes to rub together.

That's a good document. I may use its Item 4 (Plurals versus possessives versus contractions) to try to encourage one or two work colleagues to not put an apostrophe after a contraction (i.e. PDA's in your example) in our technical documentation.

I feel honoured to have started a thread that has lasted so long! And that its subject is Item 1 in your document .

(If only my threads on photography were as popular. )

Tony

[AB26]

Yea, Tony it has been an intresting tread, with so many peepil speeking so many difrint lanquges and still all of us can undirstand prittie well wat the other has to say. Think if you post a kouple of piktures in Rutian you will get a lot of komments.

Really enjoy this one and had a good laugh about some, seems some of the members sleep in the knife drawer at night.

[wlou]

That's a good document. I may use its Item 4 (Plurals versus possessives versus contractions) to try to encourage one or two work colleagues to not put an apostrophe after a contraction (i.e. PDA's in your example) in our technical documentation.

I feel honoured to have started a thread that has lasted so long! And that its subject is Item 1 in your document .

(If only my threads on photography were as popular. )

Tony

Virginia and Tony you are a great help for us poor foreign folks. In high school, we had a "Modern American English" classe. One night the homework was to fill in the blanks with appropriate verbs contractions in everyday sentences. My father volonteer to help me and as a result I got a mark of zero, 0, nada. Why? Dad said contractions is verbs were an error and made me write everything in their proper form. Funny I forgot most of that school year but still remember that!

[Tony M]

Virginia and Tony you are a great help for us poor foreign folks. In high school, we had a "Modern American English" classe. One night the homework was to fill in the blanks with appropriate verbs contractions in everyday sentences. My father volonteer to help me and as a result I got a mark of zero, 0, nada. Why? Dad said contractions is verbs were an error and made me write everything in their proper form. Funny I forgot most of that school year but still remember that!

LOL

I'm always apologising to my Spanish wife for my mother tongue.

[Inkanyezi]

LOL

I'm always apologising to my Spanish wife for my mother tongue.

Oh, my wife is Cuban, so I won't have to apologise a lot. She's the one asking me how to spell various words, whether it is b or v and c, z or s. I guess it's the Cuban education system, I wonder what they're doing. After all, my wife was a teacher, until she retired, but she defends herself by stating that she taught history, not language. Maybe it's just me obsessed with learning languages? Sin embargo, espero que mi castellano no es peor que el inglés. I think it's a great help knowing many of them and not confusing one with the other.

But Cuban spelling is hilarious at times. I vividly remember the ceramic plate on the door in the first house where I stayed. It had the text: "¡Que Dios vendiga [sic!] esta casa!" And it does not suffice with the b/v confusion and c/s, but in Santiago de Cuba they also swap r and l. Most don't do it consistently, and more often r is changed to l, but there are people that swap them almost consistently, using l where there should be r and the other way around. Now THAT is confusing. So don't be ashamed of your mother tongue, it's just what it is, it could be worse.