• The forum software that supports hummy.tv has been upgraded to XenForo 2.3!

    Please bear with us as we continue to tweak things, and feel free to post any questions, issues or suggestions in the upgrade thread.

Assume v. Presume

Black Hole said:
There was a chap on Breakfast a few days ago, called Gwynne, promoting his book on grammar (it's not expensive on Amazon, I ordered a copy for the hell of it).
Click to expand...
It's arrived! Not very much to it, I don't think it will replace my Oxford or my Chicago (whichever box they're in at the moment).
 
Apple Macintosh computer, abbreviated to "Mac". So is the plural "Mac's" (the apostrophe indicating the omission of one or more letters), or "Macs"? Ha!
 
why is it omitted when referring to one Mac?
Click to expand...
because it is an abbreviation, which, in the singular case, would mean a period (full stop) should be appended (rather than an apostrophe).
The big problem is that Mac has become an accepted term (on its own) rather like Hoover, bus and Fax
 
dandnsmith said:
because it is an abbreviation, which, in the singular case, would mean a period (full stop) should be appended (rather than an apostrophe).
The big problem is that Mac has become an accepted term (on its own) rather like Hoover, bus and Fax
Click to expand...


Haha! I have a neighbour who still uses a Fax machine. It uses a carbon sheet and I am constantly having to help him to repair it. He doesn't have broadband yet. He feels he needs to go on a training course before he gets that.

Anyway, the plural of Mac is Maces, surely? Mackintosh, mackintoshes.
 
What is Hoover an abbreviation of? It's not! Pluralising it is easy it's Hoovers and generically applies to any vacuum cleaners.
 
Mike0001 said:
Anyway, the plural of Mac is Maces, surely? Mackintosh, mackintoshes.
Click to expand...

A quote from Wikipedia:

When the singular form ends in a voiceless consonant (other than a sibilant) —/p/, /t/, /k/, /f/ (sometimes) or /θ/— the plural is formed by adding /s/. The spelling adds -s:
 
Mike0001 said:
Possessive of "Which?". That's correct, isn't it?
Click to expand...


I think that full stop was wrong, though! Talking of which, I hate putting final punctuation inside quotes unless it is part of the quote.

Did he say "I am President of the United States"?

rather than

Did he say "I am President of the United States?"

It totally changes the meaning.
 
Mike0001 said:
Possessive of "Which?". That's correct, isn't it?
Click to expand...
Probably, yes, I was just bringing the juxtaposition of the "?" and the "'" to the attention of this conversation! If I were preparing copy for a printed publication I would avoid it all together by rephrasing.

I do however think that presentation-wise, as a title of a periodical, Which? should be italicised (or at least in single quotes - which would add another level of problem when making it possessive!).
 
Black Hole said:
Probably, yes, I was just bringing the juxtaposition of the "?" and the "'" to the attention of this conversation! If I were preparing copy for a printed publication I would avoid it all together by rephrasing.
Click to expand...

True. There can't be many organizations whose name ends in a question mark, causing us to stumble over our concepts of correct punctuation.

<Waits for avalanche>
 
When Which? used to call themselves The Consumers Association, all we had to worry about was whether to stick an apostrophe in or not. And where.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top