Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[doubleup]

Apostrophe anguish

I saw this headline on the BBC website:

Private girls' school to close

Isn't "girls" an adjective - they don't own the school.

Girls is a noun*; think of it like Fathers' Day, Potter's Bar or 3 Years' Interest Free Credit. The apostrophe is correctly placed


*At the risk of getting technical, it is the genitive case

are the girls also private?

Probably a joke there.

But no; private refers to the school in this context.

The proximity of the description "private" to the noun "girls'" is confusing me.  If it was "catholic girls' school", what then?  Wouldn't it have be better to have said "Private school for girls to close" in the orginal headline?

[Tal]

Apostrophe anguish

I saw this headline on the BBC website:

Private girls' school to close

Isn't "girls" an adjective - they don't own the school.

Girls is a noun*; think of it like Fathers' Day, Potter's Bar or 3 Years' Interest Free Credit. The apostrophe is correctly placed


*At the risk of getting technical, it is the genitive case

are the girls also private?

Probably a joke there.

But no; private refers to the school in this context.

The proximity of the description "private" to the noun "girls'" is confusing me.  If it was "catholic girls' school", what then?  Wouldn't it have be better to have said "Private school for girls to close" in the orginal headline?

Definitely merit in that argument. I went to a 'School for Boys'. I'd favour 'Girls' Private School', although that might conjure up Enid Blyton images of a secret gathering of girls for educational purposes.

With adjectives and genetive nouns, each needs to add something on its own to the description of the noun. Here, private school and girls' school are fine and each narrows the field; private girls' school leaves you with a much smaller number of possibles.

I would think it style rather than a mistake, though.

[doubleup]

I went to a 'School for Boys'

that can't be right surely

edit lol was focussed on the final apostrophe and not insulting your education or gender 

[Tal]

I went to a 'School for Boys'

that can't be right surely

That's a single inverted comma (see the one before School), rather than an apostrophe.

If you knew that, and are questioning my gender, fair enough.

[Tal]

Just clocked your edit. Nice.

[Tal]

I'm sure Tikay will want his thread back at some stage. I should say I've no objections with people disagreeing with my answers; it's a mutual language, made only possible by a collective desire to use it.

I have said before how much I loathe people who write to the local rag, moaning about the signs in their local shop (newspaper's sold here). Conversely, I believe a company that spends thousands of pounds on an advert that then can't place an apostrophe on "Three Years' Interest Free Credit" should be taken outside for a stern talking to.

Language is ultimately about communication; as long as we get the message across, it doesn't really matter a jotly van jottington how we do it.

[doubleup]

oh no can't be having "newspaper's"  or "should of" or "loose". 

[doubleup]

and Tikay's name is in bright red, so we can easily spot him and hide if he comes back.

[Tal]

Would have been great if the headline Private Girls' School to Close had been followed by an article explaining that, as it was within the catchment area of another girls' school, the governors had been ordered to move it fifty feet to the East.

Reminds me of a sign one of my old maths teachers told me he saw in a zoo in Japan:

Never close your face to the monkeys

[celtic]

Apostrophe anguish

I saw this headline on the BBC website:

Private girls' school to close

Isn't "girls" an adjective - they don't own the school.

Girls is a noun*; think of it like Fathers' Day, Potter's Bar or 3 Years' Interest Free Credit. The apostrophe is correctly placed


*At the risk of getting technical, it is the genitive case

I live in potters bar, without an apostrophe thingy.

[Tal]

Apostrophe anguish

I saw this headline on the BBC website:

Private girls' school to close

Isn't "girls" an adjective - they don't own the school.

Girls is a noun*; think of it like Fathers' Day, Potter's Bar or 3 Years' Interest Free Credit. The apostrophe is correctly placed


*At the risk of getting technical, it is the genitive case

I live in potters bar, without an apostrophe thingy.

Lol

Brilliant. That'll learn me for picking one at random.

Just looked at Wiki to check why. Turns out no one is quite sure what the Potters is/are/were, which means no apostrophe is at least rational.

Wiki does also say:

There are five secondary schools in Potters Bar's which includes its large green buffer zone

This is then followed by a semicolon and a list (sans semicolon).

Unbechuffinglievable.

[david3103]

Potter's Bar really should be the name for a Snooker Hall.

[Tal]

Potter's Bar really should be the name for a Snooker Hall.

Or a chat line with the slogan "Meet single wizards in your local area"

[tikay]

and Tikay's name is in bright red, so we can easily spot him and hide if he comes back.

I went upstairs for an hour.....

I really enjoyed that interchange between you two. I much enjoy sensible, adult, debating. I loathe the sort of shouty stuff we witnessed in that Ruling thread.

I can't really be a grammar snob, as I lack that skill, I just understand the basics, but like to learn, to try and improve.

The one that does amaze me is "would of". I genuinely feel for people who write that way, in certain circumstances.

[I KNOW IT]

and Tikay's name is in bright red, so we can easily spot him and hide if he comes back.

I went upstairs for an hour.....

I really enjoyed that interchange between you two. I much enjoy sensible, adult, debating. I loathe the sort of shouty stuff we witnessed in that Ruling thread.

I can't really be a grammar snob, as I lack that skill, I just understand the basics, but like to learn, to try and improve.

The one that does amaze me is "would of". I genuinely feel for people who write that way, in certain circumstances.

It is also tikay not Tikay.