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Possessive?

niccolo — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:55:07 -0800

Where should the apostrophe go in the sentence "In Memory of Great Loves Lost"? Loves is plural (referring to all the loving in the world), but does it possess "lost"? Should it be loves'? The closest example is Shakespeare's "Love's Labour's Lost", but people apostrophe it many different ways. I've also tried to find where this example should go on the amazing apostrophe chart that was posted here a while back, but I am still uncertain.

Any questions not answered in #2 pencil will receive a score of zero

saysthis — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:24:37 -0800

Grammarfilter! Oh my. Is it "X and Y are two side of the same coin" or "X and Y two sides of the same coin"? This was an SAT sample question, and I, a poor girl's tutor, swore that "sides" must be plural in this context. Then the sample test website told me I was wrong, that it's "two side". Bonus: The website also told me that my understanding of the perfect aspect was suspect, via:
"If only I had read the instruction manual before taking apart the engine." WRONG (this was apparently simple past?)
"If only I read the manual before taking apart the engine." CORRECT (this is perfect?)

I'd appreciate some resolution here. Now, granted, my use of grammar isn't perfect in this particular question, but that's because, hello, people don't speak in "perfect" College Board grammar, nor is my particular specialty SAT English requirements. I'm a language coach, as dopey as that sounds. I work with fairly advanced ESL students to kind of drag the language out of them, with significant explanation of BASIC grammar in their NATIVE language. Which is to say that I'm an expert in English as it's used, not as prescriptivists think it ought to be.

Disclaimer: I took our apparently unwitting client because my boss told me to. I'm kind of stuck with this girl, and I want to do right by her, so I'm asking.

I'm 99.99% sure I'm right in both these questions, but I need some freakin' professional help here. Do I really suck at perfect tense? Am I one of a majority who's out butchering an idiom that ought to be a torchlight for proper plural development? Any and all criticism and links are welcome.

Are there singular/plural pairs in english with completely different spellings?

Crosius — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:41:58 -0800

In French, the singular of eye is "oiel" and the plural is "yeux." Are there any nouns in English that have completely different spellings of the singular and plural like this?

a blessing, a doom and a pryde walk into a bar...

jrishel — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 06:25:57 -0800

You have a murder of crows, sleuth of bears, even an exaltation of larks, what about Fairies? the only other mythical creatures I've been able to find collective nouns for are Unicorns (a blessing), Sasquatch (a pod), Griffins (a pryde), and Dragons (a doom)

In a recent conversation with a friend, he mentioned that "Goldbond Medicated Powder is like a squadron of fairies blowing on my testicles."

clearly a squadron just feels wrong in this sentence (among so many other things that are wrong with this sentence...) so what would the right collective noun be for a pack of pixies?

What is the plural of "print out"?

ChasFile — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:56:57 -0800

What's the plural of "print out," as in, "hey John, if you're going near the printer could you get me that print out?" What would we say to John if we wanted him to get us more than one?

HOW DO EXPRESS TEH IDEA OF MORE TAHN ONE BEATIN' ???

ignignokt — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:26:57 -0800

How do I pluralize a contraction that already ends with an apostrophe? I was just IMing with a friend and needed to pluralize the word beatin', which ends with an apostrophe. If I were to just add an s, I'd get:

beatin's

That looks like the possessive form of "beatin" and is totally wrong. Alternatively, I could put the apostrophe at the end, but that makes even less sense.

"There is" or "There are"

syzygy — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 02:53:41 -0800

English Grammar: "There is" vs. "There are". There is a banana. There are two oranges. There (is / are) a banana and an orange? How about:
There (is / are) a banana and two oranges?
There (is / are) two oranges and a banana?

I've searched on google for a definitive answer to this question. Most of the ESL lessons I've come across avoid this kind of construction, altogether. I've also stumbled on some discussions of the topic which seem pretty contradictory.

For the example sentences I provided, I think the following answers are correct: "is", "is" and "are".

I understand that the subjects of all of the sentences are plural, but I think that an ellipsis allows for the "is", as in: There is a banana and (there is) an orange.

Can someone point me to a definitive answer?

Radioactive Mooses?

blue_beetle — Thu, 10 May 2007 09:18:20 -0800

pluralsfilter: Why don't we use words like "radiations"? It seems like a lot of words that have logical plurals don't ever get used in english. Radiations means essentially the same thing as emanations or emissions, but we don't use it the same way. Why is this? Where can I find more information about why we drop the pluralization on some many words?

What do you call a group of ninjas?

qbxk — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 14:43:14 -0800

What do you call a group of ninjas? You know, like gaggle of geese, murder of crows, school of fish, all that. Does a group of ninjas have some sort of descriptor? We're talking many people in halloween costumes, how to address them together. The { blank }

Is there a proper plural for "ethnicity"?

pardonyou? — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:34:20 -0800

Is "ethnicities" a proper plural of "ethnicity"? I'm editing a sentence containing a list, and I'm concerned about parallelism. The sentence is along these lines: "Our organization reflects numerous cultures, backgrounds, ethnicity, and experiences." To me, "ethnicities" reads better, but I'm not sure it's a proper word. If not, is "ethnicity" a proper plural, or would "ethnic backgrounds" work better?

Subjects and Verbs

rkent — Thu, 16 Dec 2004 15:38:10 -0800

From this thread:

... you're probably aware that Clear Channel own ...

What is the DEAL with verb/subject disagreement when it comes to corporate entities?? Clear Channel is an IT! Likewise band names. I can't remember how many articles I've read with phrases like "Metallica are..." or "Led Zeppelin are..." Why is this OK in the music business? I know this is mostly rant-y, but I'm genuinely curious if anyone has, like, the Rolling Stone Style Guide or something.