RE: Grammar : "of", " 's" or nothing ?

Subject: RE: Grammar : "of", " 's" or nothing ?
From: "Mike Schmidt" <mschmidt -at- weathercentral -dot- tv>
To: "Geoff Hart" <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>, "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, "Yoann Le Bleis" <yoannlebleis -at- gmail -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2006 10:44:09 -0500

The debate that won't die around here (where I work) is the plural of an
abbreviation. I believe that if you want to talk about more than one CD,
for example, you CAN use an apostrophe (five CD's), but I don't. I
capitalize the abbreviation, and use a lower case 's' to make it plural
(five CDs).

English hurts my brain.



-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+mschmidt=weathercentral -dot- tv -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+mschmidt=weathercentral -dot- tv -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]
On Behalf Of Geoff Hart
Sent: Monday, August 07, 2006 8:53 AM
To: TECHWR-L; Yoann Le Bleis
Subject: Grammar : "of", " 's" or nothing ?

Yoann Le Bleis wondered: <<Does anyone have a good link to a page
that exhaustively defines the use of *of*, *'s* and *nothing* in a
nominal group?>>

Best bet is to pick up a good, comprehensive style guide such as the
Chicago Manual of Style; it contains a wealth of grammatical
information. I relearned most of my English grammar from the 14th
edition, which has been replaced and should thus be available
inexpensively as a used copy. In addition, most good dictionaries
have a section that discusses English grammar in varying degrees of
detail, and the better ones also provide usage examples for most
words in the dictionary.

<<Can I use the *'s* for an object possessing another object? eg
"widget's event" What about concepts? How can I choose between
"confidentiality rules" and "rules of confidentiality"?>>

Yes, you can use the possessive in the first case, but English
accepts the use of unmodified nouns as adjectives (I believe they're
called "attributive nouns"), as in your second example. Both are
acceptable, but phrases that use "of" are wordier and thus less
useful in most technical communication. Unfortunately, knowing when
they're required depends on a strong knowledge of English idiom,
which you'll only develop by reading a lot of good English writing;
for example, you'd never say "the Wales Prince" ("Prince of Wales" is
preferred). Some of these choices will be found in books on usage
(Fowler's book is the best known, but Garner is more recent and is
well respected).

And when in doubt, ask! We techwhirlers have endless patience for
polite inquiries from people who have done a bit of research on their
own to try to solve a problem before coming to us for help.

----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
----------------------------------------------------


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content

delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Easily create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to any popular
Help file format or printed documentation. Learn more at
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as mschmidt -at- weathercentral -dot- tv -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/mschmidt%40weathercen
tral.tv


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Easily create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to any popular Help file format or printed documentation. Learn more at http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40infoinfocus.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.


Previous by Author: RE: Ethics of reusing vendor's help material -- copyright issue orcommonplace practice?
Next by Author: RE: Breaking into the tech writing job market
Previous by Thread: Grammar : "of", " 's" or nothing ?
Next by Thread: RE: Grammar : "of", " 's" or nothing ?


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads