On 04/24/2012 04:35 AM, Peter Schofield wrote:
Hello Jay and Tom
The USA and UK are two countries separated by one language - English -
and the ne'er the twain shall meet ;-())))
Avoiding the use of the apostrophe is one thing we should consider. It does
help users whose mother tongue is not English because the grammar rules for the
apostrophe are difficult to understand with the possessive apostrophe being the
hardest. Comes from personal experience of working in several non-English
countries. Also, if you work in the aviation industry and use Simplified
English, the apostrophe is definitely out.
I think the native English speakers should remember to avoid
contractions and other be more precise about possessives.
Also, it does not help that there are two major spelling systems in
English, fortunately the differences are generally very consistent (*our
vs *or or *er vs *re in word endings).
Another problem is that UK, Canadian, US, etc. local idioms are
sometimes incomprehensible to other. And some words are have some what
different meanings in US English than UK English. (the boot of a car
(UK) is the trunk of a car (US)) Wikipedia has several lists of these
differences and some can be very humorous.
I always enjoy discussions like this as it is a break from the serious stuff.
Regards
Peter Schofield
[email protected]
On 23 Apr 2012, at 14:02, Jay Lozier wrote:
Peter
On 04/23/2012 03:21 AM, PeeWee wrote:
Hello Gary and Tom
Many people make the mistake about its and it's, even the English.
I have found over the years that it is always best to avoid the apostrophe
when writing. This makes it better when someone has to translate English
into another language.
For example:
It's - always write as "it is"
Can't - always write as "cannot" (please note "cannot" is one word and
should not be written as "can not" - a quirk of the English language).
Don't - always write as "do not".
This alleged native speaker of US English cannot remember the correct
contractions to use them.
I think you get my drift. Using word contractions is part of conversation
and should never be written. That is how I was taught English language by my
Scottish English teacher many years ago in Yorkshire. You have to remember,
folk from Yorkshire are famous for missing t'odd word.
Regards
Peter
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