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Spellin'
![Old](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="10" height="11"><rect fill-opacity="0"/></svg> "Old")
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Posts: n/a
being a non-native speaker "one's" seems more logical to me
The correct usage in this case is one's not ones'
It is difficult to keep one's apostrophes in the right place, because English is irrational.
Last edited by Michael Birbeck; 29th Jun 2009 at 20:11.
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: The Ethereal Land of Vintage Aviation
Posts: 125
Will and Michael, concur!
Ones' is gramatically incorrect, i.e. "Ones' writing ability." You cannot pluralize "one."
The correct plural form would be "The people's ability to write."
Ones' is gramatically incorrect, i.e. "Ones' writing ability." You cannot pluralize "one."
The correct plural form would be "The people's ability to write."
Aviator Extraordinaire
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA
Age: 72
Posts: 2,394
Well I personally believe that this thread is a perfect example of floccinaucinihilipilification.
Yes that is a proper word and no, spell-check does not know that word.
Yes that is a proper word and no, spell-check does not know that word.
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Germany
Age: 72
Posts: 1,561
You cannot tell but...
I am wearing my monophthong as I type this, the one that has "When I die I will go to heaven because I have spent my time in Hell... Saigon, 1967-1968" embroidered on the back and a snarling tiger across the front. But never mind that now!
"I got a box of chocolate numerals for Christmas but when I opened it I found that the ones were infested with weevils." So, how about that for plural ones? One's fairly sure that should work according to the rules of English as she is spoke.
"I got a box of chocolate numerals for Christmas but when I opened it I found that the ones were infested with weevils." So, how about that for plural ones? One's fairly sure that should work according to the rules of English as she is spoke.
![](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="16" height="16"><rect fill-opacity="0"/></svg> "Stick Out Tongue")
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Petaluma
Posts: 330
"The Zero's cannon raked the Beach...."
"The Zeros' cannons were replaced with ....."
"The twos' invulnerability to weevil infestation..."
"The two's holes were not due to weevils acting in twos....."
"I drank wine befive I nined lunch...." Victor Borge
"The Zeros' cannons were replaced with ....."
"The twos' invulnerability to weevil infestation..."
"The two's holes were not due to weevils acting in twos....."
"I drank wine befive I nined lunch...." Victor Borge
Guest
Posts: n/a
It can only get worse.
The ones, the zeros = nouns, plural.
Possessive case = noun (plural) + '. Fine.![](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="25" height="18"><rect fill-opacity="0"/></svg> "Thumb")
One used as an indefinite pronoun as per earlier post = Indefinite pronoun + 's.
Is so damned hot here I'm going for a dip with my thong.
Possessive case = noun (plural) + '. Fine.
One used as an indefinite pronoun as per earlier post = Indefinite pronoun + 's.
Is so damned hot here I'm going for a dip with my thong.
Last edited by Michael Birbeck; 29th Jun 2009 at 22:00. Reason: Don't you hate the misplaced h?
Hovering AND talking
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Propping up bars in the Lands of D H Lawrence and Bishop Bonner
Age: 55
Posts: 5,711
Pluralize (with respect to the -ize bit anyway) is perfectly acceptable English English and is cited in the OED and Fowler's (and was indeed how I was taught to spell). The -ize comes from Greek.
Turning "plural" into a verb somewhat grates though.![](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="15" height="15"><rect fill-opacity="0"/></svg> "Bad teeth")
Cheers
Whirls
Turning "plural" into a verb somewhat grates though.
Cheers
Whirls
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland. (No, I just live here.)
Posts: 719
A while ago, after thinking about why some people confuse e.g. you're and your, I concluded that they must be using words based on how they sound, and lack a solid grounding in their meanings. I put together a list of easily-confused words, with examples of their contrasting usages. Here goes:
I know that some of these may be a bit obscure or regional, such as practice vs practise. 
* their / they're / there: "They're unlikely to find their shoes in there."
* taught / taut / thought: "I thought they were taught to tie taut knots?"
* principle / principal: "The principal bassist in the orchestra had strong principles."
* your / you're / yore: "You're always happier when telling your stories from days of yore."
* tail / tale: "I asked the vet about my dog's tail, and he told me this tale about how he set the police on the tail of a dog-fighting ring."
* where / were / wear / ware: "Where were you?" "I was upstairs in Menswear." "Ah, we were downstairs in Homeware."
* peak / peek / pique: "A peek at the photo, with the view from the peak, was enough to pique my interest."
* flew / flu / flue: "I was at home with the flu, when a pigeon flew down the flue.
* fore / for / four: "At bat, Jenkins came to the fore, knocking poor old Watson for many a Four."
* weather / whether: "Check the weather, so I can decide whether or not to wear a coat. I can't weather a storm in a T-shirt."
* tenet / tenant: "One of my prime tenets is to take no nonsense from tenants."
* waist / waste: "One look at that waist, and you can see he wastes no energy on exercise."
* wait / weight: "Wait a minute, I want to check my weight on the scale."
* whole / hole / holy: "Tell me the whole truth: did you, or did you not, punch that hole in the wall?" "I swear on the Holy Bible, I did not!"
* heard / herd: "I tell you, when I heard that herd of sheep coming in my direction, I went straight up the nearest tree."
* fair / fare: "It's only fair to pay the bus fare, like everyone else. The bus company would not fare well if everyone rode for free, would it?"
* its / it's: "It's fair to say that the club has lost its best players."
* not / knot / naught: "I could not get my shoelace knot undone. All my efforts were for naught."
* off / of / 've: "I would've (would have) hit the Off button, had I known of it." (NB: "would of" is incorrect.)
* practice / practise: "It's a good practise to practice your flying every week."
* advice / advise: "I would advise you to ignore any advice you read on this forum."
* no / know / now: "I know it's awkward, but there will be no space left by now." * rite / right: "A rite of passage, for any visitor from the the UK to Europe, is learning that the right side of the road to drive on is the right side."
* bought / brought: "I brought home the groceries I had bought at Asda."
* axe / ask: "Go and ask Michael if I might borrow his axe, so I can chop that tree down."
* hear / here: "If you stand here for a minute, quietly, you might just hear the snow falling outside."
* through / thorough: "The officers went through the door and carried out a thorough search of the premises."
* specific / pacific: "The rocket landed in the ocean: the Pacific, to be specific."
* loath / loathe: "I loathe the way he is chronically loath to help out around the house." (NB: Loth and Loath are synonyms.)
* affect / effect: "I was badly affected by fumes: the effect was to make me nauseous." (NB: effect is used as a verb in some specific cases, e.g. to effect a guitar sound is to apply an effect to it.)
* to / too: "It's too bad that I couldn't get to the concert. It sounded like a lot of fun, too."
* sight / site: "By lunchtime the camp site was in sight."
* cord / chord: "The way Pete's guitar cord fell out, every time he hit a G major chord, struck a chord with the audience, who fell about laughing."
* quiet / quite: "It was quite noisy in here last night, but now it's nice and quiet."
* lose / loose: "After I lose this weight, those trousers will be too loose."
* hear / here: "I hear they're building a new road here!" "Excellent!" "Hear, hear!"
* pouring / poring: "While I was pouring the coffee, she was poring over the front page of the Sunday paper."
* bear / bare: "Bear with me a minute - I can't go chasing a bear in my bare feet, can I?"
* who's / whose: "Whose car broke down on the freeway yesterday, and who's to blame? The mechanic?"
* discrete / discreet: "James discreetly left the room to count the coins in to discrete money bags."
* taught / taut / thought: "I thought they were taught to tie taut knots?"
* principle / principal: "The principal bassist in the orchestra had strong principles."
* your / you're / yore: "You're always happier when telling your stories from days of yore."
* tail / tale: "I asked the vet about my dog's tail, and he told me this tale about how he set the police on the tail of a dog-fighting ring."
* where / were / wear / ware: "Where were you?" "I was upstairs in Menswear." "Ah, we were downstairs in Homeware."
* peak / peek / pique: "A peek at the photo, with the view from the peak, was enough to pique my interest."
* flew / flu / flue: "I was at home with the flu, when a pigeon flew down the flue.
* fore / for / four: "At bat, Jenkins came to the fore, knocking poor old Watson for many a Four."
* weather / whether: "Check the weather, so I can decide whether or not to wear a coat. I can't weather a storm in a T-shirt."
* tenet / tenant: "One of my prime tenets is to take no nonsense from tenants."
* waist / waste: "One look at that waist, and you can see he wastes no energy on exercise."
* wait / weight: "Wait a minute, I want to check my weight on the scale."
* whole / hole / holy: "Tell me the whole truth: did you, or did you not, punch that hole in the wall?" "I swear on the Holy Bible, I did not!"
* heard / herd: "I tell you, when I heard that herd of sheep coming in my direction, I went straight up the nearest tree."
* fair / fare: "It's only fair to pay the bus fare, like everyone else. The bus company would not fare well if everyone rode for free, would it?"
* its / it's: "It's fair to say that the club has lost its best players."
* not / knot / naught: "I could not get my shoelace knot undone. All my efforts were for naught."
* off / of / 've: "I would've (would have) hit the Off button, had I known of it." (NB: "would of" is incorrect.)
* practice / practise: "It's a good practise to practice your flying every week."
* advice / advise: "I would advise you to ignore any advice you read on this forum."
* no / know / now: "I know it's awkward, but there will be no space left by now." * rite / right: "A rite of passage, for any visitor from the the UK to Europe, is learning that the right side of the road to drive on is the right side."
* bought / brought: "I brought home the groceries I had bought at Asda."
* axe / ask: "Go and ask Michael if I might borrow his axe, so I can chop that tree down."
* hear / here: "If you stand here for a minute, quietly, you might just hear the snow falling outside."
* through / thorough: "The officers went through the door and carried out a thorough search of the premises."
* specific / pacific: "The rocket landed in the ocean: the Pacific, to be specific."
* loath / loathe: "I loathe the way he is chronically loath to help out around the house." (NB: Loth and Loath are synonyms.)
* affect / effect: "I was badly affected by fumes: the effect was to make me nauseous." (NB: effect is used as a verb in some specific cases, e.g. to effect a guitar sound is to apply an effect to it.)
* to / too: "It's too bad that I couldn't get to the concert. It sounded like a lot of fun, too."
* sight / site: "By lunchtime the camp site was in sight."
* cord / chord: "The way Pete's guitar cord fell out, every time he hit a G major chord, struck a chord with the audience, who fell about laughing."
* quiet / quite: "It was quite noisy in here last night, but now it's nice and quiet."
* lose / loose: "After I lose this weight, those trousers will be too loose."
* hear / here: "I hear they're building a new road here!" "Excellent!" "Hear, hear!"
* pouring / poring: "While I was pouring the coffee, she was poring over the front page of the Sunday paper."
* bear / bare: "Bear with me a minute - I can't go chasing a bear in my bare feet, can I?"
* who's / whose: "Whose car broke down on the freeway yesterday, and who's to blame? The mechanic?"
* discrete / discreet: "James discreetly left the room to count the coins in to discrete money bags."
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: The Fletcher Memorial Home
Age: 54
Posts: 302
I used to work for a manager who was an ex-public school pupil, and used to inspect every document we wrote to mistakes in the grammer. If it wasn't correct, you did it again.
It was fun at times, as the job was developing software which does not follow the normal rules of the English language. On a couple of occasions the grammer may have been correct but the technical content was completely incorrect....
It did teach us to check our work though, but I had to stop when my sons teacher complained I used more red pen on my sons homework than she did.......
It was fun at times, as the job was developing software which does not follow the normal rules of the English language. On a couple of occasions the grammer may have been correct but the technical content was completely incorrect....
It did teach us to check our work though, but I had to stop when my sons teacher complained I used more red pen on my sons homework than she did.......
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: 38N
Posts: 356
One's ones won once.
I lay a fifty aside the salad. She replaced it with five ones.
"Care for a toss," she asked, winking. "You might like the endive."
"Just go easy on me," I replied. "Mm sorta tired and feeling green."
Peeling back a layer of the vegetable, one spied the key.
Heart beating faster, one pocketed the little bit of brass, wrapping it carefully inside one's ones.
Looking her way, one nodded toward the stairs: "Up there?"
"All the way up and in through the curtains," she said, "I'll be right behind you."
"A'm go'in in if'n yer cummín", I said. "Whooda thought one'd find a girl
like you in endive like this."
"Care for a toss," she asked, winking. "You might like the endive."
"Just go easy on me," I replied. "Mm sorta tired and feeling green."
Peeling back a layer of the vegetable, one spied the key.
Heart beating faster, one pocketed the little bit of brass, wrapping it carefully inside one's ones.
Looking her way, one nodded toward the stairs: "Up there?"
"All the way up and in through the curtains," she said, "I'll be right behind you."
"A'm go'in in if'n yer cummín", I said. "Whooda thought one'd find a girl
like you in endive like this."
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Germany
Age: 72
Posts: 1,561
Ah, so!
So you CAN pluralise "one." Good to know, eh? Not the one you meant, of course, the first-person singular pronoun, since "I" or "one" changes to "we" but that other one, the numeral. That is one of the ones one can pluralize without one's grammar being incorrect. Noöne should criticise that. (This, though, I am not 100% sure about. Is it legal?)
In an age when writing (well, typing) by Jeffery Archer is taken to be literature and the music of Michael Jackson is taken to have surpassed Mozart's any little corner we can find to play with the English language is a welcome discovery, including this one.
I often stick my head above the Jet Blast parapet to get a return volley criticising not just the basic wrong-headed ignorance of whatever I have written but also its speeling and "grammer" and I enjoy this. Either I learn something or else I can sit here basking in the smug knowledge that some of my foes are muppets.
I was once on a course where we discussed antidisestablishmentarianism and not just as a funny word, hah-hah. Well, we started by looking at the established church, what you could call establishmentarianism. Then we looked at the move to do away with the established church, disestablishmentarianism. Then we broke for tea and biscuits. When we returned we considered the move to restore the established church, antidisestablishmentarianism. Whew!
Then we went on to consider just who had modelled for the Pre-Raphaelite painting, "The Light of the World." She was a version of what my father's generation knew as a "hot tomato" and a welcome change of topic which perked many of us up quite a bit from that dogged encounter with antidisestablishmentarianism.
In an age when writing (well, typing) by Jeffery Archer is taken to be literature and the music of Michael Jackson is taken to have surpassed Mozart's any little corner we can find to play with the English language is a welcome discovery, including this one.
I often stick my head above the Jet Blast parapet to get a return volley criticising not just the basic wrong-headed ignorance of whatever I have written but also its speeling and "grammer" and I enjoy this. Either I learn something or else I can sit here basking in the smug knowledge that some of my foes are muppets.
I was once on a course where we discussed antidisestablishmentarianism and not just as a funny word, hah-hah. Well, we started by looking at the established church, what you could call establishmentarianism. Then we looked at the move to do away with the established church, disestablishmentarianism. Then we broke for tea and biscuits. When we returned we considered the move to restore the established church, antidisestablishmentarianism. Whew!
Then we went on to consider just who had modelled for the Pre-Raphaelite painting, "The Light of the World." She was a version of what my father's generation knew as a "hot tomato" and a welcome change of topic which perked many of us up quite a bit from that dogged encounter with antidisestablishmentarianism.
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Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Germany
Age: 72
Posts: 1,561
Yeah, well...
Everyone here is keeping watch for people who mention the War! That is the one you cannot get away with. "Antidisestablishmentarianism," who cares about that one?
Drat! I just mentioned the War! Well, I think I got away with it...
Drat! I just mentioned the War! Well, I think I got away with it...
Guest
Posts: n/a
One more time.
So you CAN pluralise "one." Good to know, eh? Not the one you meant, of course, the first-person singular pronoun, since "I" or "one" changes to "we" but that other one, the numeral
As Churchill said "This is the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put".
Isn't it fantastic to be able to spout all this useless knowledge on a flying forum?
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Germany
Age: 72
Posts: 1,561
Drat!
Well, my brief spell above the parapet didn't last very long, did it? I take your point, that one is referring to oneself in the third person, in a self-regarding sort of way. So what, then? "One" changes to "ourselves" for the plural? How do you work this thing, anyway? (Think of Governor LePetomaine with the little toy there.)
That last put-down would work better if "Nazy's" were to be correctly spelled with correct grammar, surely?
I would then make that to be "Nazis" except that it is surpassingly stupid to trivialise that vicious gang of malefactors by associating their crimes against humanity with whining complaints about spelling, grammar, smoking, road safety or whatever.
Nowadays we have anti-smoking Nazis, spelling Nazis, road safety Nazis, Nazi this and Nazi that and I really think it would be better to keep the real Nazis in mind as just that, Nazis!
Or is that mis-spelling part of the joke? (Is this like having a dispute with the ventriloquist's dummy?)
There is a sort of flaunting of crashing stupidity and ignorance on so many levels in that post that is truly frightening.
Too, you should have some consideration for the gays among us who may suffer seared retinae by a glimpse of that shirt and those spectacles, that facial hair... "Aaah!" Me, I'm fairly straight but it still caused me some discomfort with as close to no fashion sense as makes no difference at all.
That last put-down would work better if "Nazy's" were to be correctly spelled with correct grammar, surely?
I would then make that to be "Nazis" except that it is surpassingly stupid to trivialise that vicious gang of malefactors by associating their crimes against humanity with whining complaints about spelling, grammar, smoking, road safety or whatever.
Nowadays we have anti-smoking Nazis, spelling Nazis, road safety Nazis, Nazi this and Nazi that and I really think it would be better to keep the real Nazis in mind as just that, Nazis!
Or is that mis-spelling part of the joke? (Is this like having a dispute with the ventriloquist's dummy?)
There is a sort of flaunting of crashing stupidity and ignorance on so many levels in that post that is truly frightening.
Too, you should have some consideration for the gays among us who may suffer seared retinae by a glimpse of that shirt and those spectacles, that facial hair... "Aaah!" Me, I'm fairly straight but it still caused me some discomfort with as close to no fashion sense as makes no difference at all.
Guest
Posts: n/a
Standard nerd in Tombstone
We spellers and grammarians are a tough bunch of guys. Here's one of the members of our guild in typical form.
YouTube - Tombstone Spelling Contest
YouTube - Tombstone Spelling Contest
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland. (No, I just live here.)
Posts: 719
Originally Posted by chuks
That last put-down would work better if "Nazy's" were to be correctly spelled with correct grammar, surely?
...
Or is that mis-spelling part of the joke? (Is this like having a dispute with the ventriloquist's dummy?)
...
Or is that mis-spelling part of the joke? (Is this like having a dispute with the ventriloquist's dummy?)
- How many Ls in Spellling?
- "then" instead of "than"
- Punctuation, lack of.
I consider myself a minor Grammar Nazi. A Grammar Fascisti, you might say. Avanti!
Hovering AND talking
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Propping up bars in the Lands of D H Lawrence and Bishop Bonner
Age: 55
Posts: 5,711
Microsoft Word gets my goat! Even though I have selected "English (UK)" it still insists on spelling words with a "Zee" rather than an "Ess"!
e.g. Authorization vice Authorisation
e.g. Authorization vice Authorisation
Cheers
Whirls
Join Date: May 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 261
Whirls, The Z in Authorization has crept into modern English like McDonalds has infiltrated the world of food! Some dictionaries say that it can be spelled in either way, but that is because they are pandering to an international market. Authorisation is the traditional English (not American) way of spelling the word; you just have to look at the top of the military "Flight Authorisation Sheets" to see the history and tradition of this word.
I suppose you agree with these as well:
Privatization
Prioritized
Naturalized
Customized
Serialized
Circumcized
Will you reply to this entry this afternoon, or will it be tonite?
I suppose you agree with these as well:
Privatization
Prioritized
Naturalized
Customized
Serialized
Circumcized
Will you reply to this entry this afternoon, or will it be tonite?
Last edited by Mick Strigg; 30th Jun 2009 at 11:03.
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Chez Sprog
Posts: 493
Tonite. Arrggggghhhhhh!
Authorization is given in the OED, who have a panel of awfully clever people arbitrating on such weighty matters. It is therefore the official permission giving word for Her Madges guvmint.
Although I find it terribly wrong as well.
While I'm on, when did we all stop taking our medicine?
Authorization is given in the OED, who have a panel of awfully clever people arbitrating on such weighty matters. It is therefore the official permission giving word for Her Madges guvmint.
Although I find it terribly wrong as well.
While I'm on, when did we all stop taking our medicine?