English grammar and vocabulary: quick questions thread

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I've read that ' and " mean the same thing (for quoting) and the only rule regarding them is that you're consistent and only use one or the other, not both.

However, I've also been told (and seen it used often) that " is used for exact quotes and ' is used to show, for example, what someone said without using their exact words.

For example: Gordon Brown announced a Chav Hunting Day to get rid of the 'violent hooligans that make nothing of their life'. He announced: "These chavs are violent, they're hooligans and they clearly have nothing to make of their life".

So which is correct and which is the myth?

Reply 121

Daya

Is it:

"a weeks (work placement)"

or

"a week's (work placement)"

It's the former isn't it? I'm having an argument with my bf...and the spell check says I'm wrong too.

Reply 122

usernamegoeshere

the placement "belongs" to the week, so it is week's

Reply 123

HearTheThunder

A week's.

Also grammar not grammare, though that was inevitable in this thread.

Reply 124

Daya

Bugger. Thsnks though.

Reply 125

Cities

The latter.

And I lol'd at the title badly

Reply 126

Pink Bullets

Trust your boyfriend and the spell check. And avoid having these kinds of arguments in the future.

Reply 127

Angelil

Haven't heard of ' being used for paraphrase.
It is often used, though, for emphasis: e.g. the so-called 'banning'
Seems to be the equivalent of doing the quotation-marks-in-the-air-sarcastically thing with your fingers :p:

I was reading something about this topic only the other day but have forgotten what the conclusion was. Bother.

Reply 128

GAguy

Can you please help me find a word for "make safer" as in this example:

XYZ have agreed to (make safer) the roads

Reply 129

Angelil

you need to split the verb. even though people say that split infinitives are bad :p:

So it should be 'XYZ have agreed to make the roads safer'.

Reply 130

hobnob

Angelil

you need to split the verb. even though people say that split infinitives are bad :p:

So it should be 'XYZ have agreed to make the roads safer'.

'To make the roads safer' isn't actually a split infinitive, though, so that problem doesn't arise. :wink:

A split infinitive is if you separate the 'to' and the main verb, i.e. 'to finally make the roads safer'.

Reply 131

bon

Fowler: "The English-speaking world may be divided into (1) those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is; (2) those who do not know, but care very much; (3) those who know and condemn; (4) those who know and approve; and (5) those who know and distinguish."

I don't think they're particularly ugly / unacceptable. Oh and compound split infinitives are good fun: "he managed to completely and utterly destroy them" :p:

Reply 132

GAguy

Could someone revise this paragraph for me please?

The boa is not as friendly with the little ones as its name relative Winnie the Pooh – This boa could attack babies and “mothers should be wary about leaving their babies unattended in their prams in their gardens.” Warns Inspector Peter Rhodes, of Preston branch of the RSPCA.

Thanks :smile:

Reply 133

Angelil

'name relative' - don't you mean "namesake"?

The capital 'T' on 'This boa' needs to be decapitalised, and I'd also recommend putting a comma after 'babies'. The full stop after 'gardens' should be a comma, and the 'W' of 'Warns' also needs to be lower case. Finally, you need to add 'the' before 'Preston'.

Lots of very basic mistakes there :s-smilie:

Reply 134

GAguy

Angelil

Thanks, but why am I allowed to change the full stop to a comma? I would be changing a quote if I'd do that.

Reply 135

Angelil

Because it interrupts the flow of the sentence (and, indeed, makes it grammatically incorrect) if you don't.

Reply 136

ormaybeitsjustnarcissism

Can I say 'rhetoric' to describe someone's way of writing, or is it only applicable to public speaking? Like, '[book title] displays [author's] skillful use of rhetoric'?

Edit: Handed it in now anyway, so we shall see.

Reply 137

InadequateJusticex

Hey guys, what do you call words like 'However'?

Does anyone have any similar words to it? I need to spice it up a bit..not just use the same word D: