[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Railroader 

For all intensive purpoises your all wrong.

Yeah, well, what do intensive porpoises care about grammar anyway?

[Railroader]

We only care that you abide by all the rules written on the ceiling of the Sixteen Chapel.

[EDIT: So long and thanks for all the fish.]

[turtle777]

Classic thread in the making™

-t

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Railroader 

We only care that you abide by all the rules written on the ceiling of the Sixteen Chapel.

[EDIT: So long and thanks for all the fish.]

I stumbled upon that thread one day...words cannot describe.

[besson3c]

Any more predictions as to how many more intentionally misspellings and grammar mangling there will be in this thread?

[badidea]

Yeah's...I mean know!

[Railroader]

What if they are all unintenntional?

[badidea]

Don`t you meen unintenntionallly?

[Dakar V]

This thread is FIAL
yes

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Railroader 

What if they are all unintenntional?

That would make us real loosers.

-t

[RAILhead]

Totaly.

[Railroader]

Im just going to stop using apostrophes in general. Theyre overrated.

[Eug]

A a friend of mine (a well-respected accountant) pronounces "supposedly" as "supposably".

Drives me up the wall.

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by Eug 

A a friend of mine (a well-respected accountant) pronounces "supposedly" as "supposably".

Drives me up the wall.

That one kills me.

I think we should throw diplomacy out and start openly correcting people. Otherwise, misspellings and incorrect pronunciations are going to get worse.

[Railroader]

What about hyperbole?

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Railroader 

What about hyperbole?

Nothing wrong with a good hyperbowl.

[analogika]

...or a decent hyper-Bolly movie...

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Eug 

A a friend of mine (a well-respected accountant) pronounces "supposedly" as "supposably".

Wow, that's exspecially stupid.

-t

[dcmacdaddy]

Yes, I saw this while browsing Reddit.
But it is SO worth it to post the link here.
It ought to give Shifuimam a fit.

This Guy Loves Apostrophes Almost As Much As He Loves Jesus

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by dcmacdaddy 

Yes, I saw this while browsing Reddit.
But it is SO worth it to post the link here.
It ought to give Shifuimam a fit.

This Guy Loves Apostrophes Almost As Much As He Loves Jesus

What's so special about the Druggies ?

-t

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by dcmacdaddy 

Yes, I saw this while browsing Reddit.
But it is SO worth it to post the link here.
It ought to give Shifuimam a fit.

This Guy Loves Apostrophes Almost As Much As He Loves Jesus

“High fullutent”? How rude. I may be high, but I ain’t full of no tents.

[turtle777]

Ok, what's right ?

Presidents Day ?
President's Day ?
Presidents' Day ?

Evidence seems to say all of the above. Why the heck is that ?

-t

[shifuimam]

Apparently that guy is against...

Emos, loud-mouthed women and sports nuts. REPENT AND NEVAR WATCH THE SUPER BOWL AGAIN, SINNER!

WTF.

High fullutent is the best by far.

[Amorya]

Originally Posted by CharlesS 

It's singular if you're referring to the company as a whole - it's plural if you are referring to its members as a group.

Microsoft is a really huge tech company.

Microsoft are a bunch of soulless drones.

You get the idea.

It's still a pond difference.

I would say "Microsoft are a really huge tech company".

[wataru]

And you'd be wrong, because Microsoft is one company.

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by wataru 

And you'd be wrong, because Microsoft is one company.

Indeed. You could say "the employees of Microsoft make for one huge company", but when you're referring to the company as a whole, the singular verb form is correct.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by wataru 

And you'd be wrong, because Microsoft is one company.

No, you’re still wrong.

It is NOT incorrect to use the plural form when referring to a company. It doesn’t matter how many times you say it is. It might not be the natural way for you, or for people from your part of the world, to say it, but in International English, it’s a completely accepted construction.

[Gregg]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

It is NOT incorrect to use the plural form when referring to a company. It doesn’t matter how many times you say it is. It might not be the natural way for you, or for people from your part of the world, to say it, but in International English, it’s a completely accepted construction.

Those who have commented about never having heard/seen this usage simply haven't communicated with British subjects. In fact, even in Canada, this is the accepted form. I'm not sure about "down under" however. I've worked with people from England, and they always use the plural to refer to a group or company, whether writing or speaking.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Ok, what's right ?

Presidents Day ?
President's Day ?
Presidents' Day ?

Presidents' Day. It's very simple. Apostrophe goes at the end because its possessive and the plural of president ends with an S.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Presidents' Day. It's very simple. Apostrophe goes at the end because its possessive and the plural of president ends with an S.

Logically speaking, since it’s a holiday to honour the birthday of a specific president, Washington, it should be President’s Day.

Moreover, many names of institutions, holidays, concepts, etc., that use a plural noun as their first constituent are made in a way where the plural noun acts more like an adjective than a possessive. Institutions like the United States Senate, to take a random example, are of this type. Presidents Day, if you prefer to spell it like that, is another of the same type.

Presidents’ Day is actually the name that makes the least sense, since there’s no logical plural to refer to; it’s mostly used by people who don’t know what they’re actually celebrating.

Snopes has a good article on this.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

Logically speaking, since it’s a holiday to honour the birthday of a specific president, Washington, it should be President’s Day.

Moreover, many names of institutions, holidays, concepts, etc., that use a plural noun as their first constituent are made in a way where the plural noun acts more like an adjective than a possessive. Institutions like the United States Senate, to take a random example, are of this type. Presidents Day, if you prefer to spell it like that, is another of the same type.

Presidents’ Day is actually the name that makes the least sense, since there’s no logical plural to refer to; it’s mostly used by people who don’t know what they’re actually celebrating.

Snopes has a good article on this.

Good article.

I guess the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has it wrong then.

They have it as "Presidents' Day"

That's how they say you need to spell it in their Writing Test.

Redesigned (New) Naturalization Test: Vocabulary List for the English Writing Test

-t

[Cold Warrior]

That convention also holds for Veterans Day, where no apostrophe is considered attributive, at least in the US.

[wataru]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

It is NOT incorrect to use the plural form when referring to a company.

Yes it is.

[PER3]

Originally Posted by wataru 

Yes it is.

No, it isn't. Some things are just done differently in different places.

For me, the Americanism of leaving out prepositions is abhorrent. Educated Americans probably agree with me, but it seems to be accepted by the unwashed masses of the USA.

"I'll write you Tuesday."

WTF?!

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

Logically speaking, since it’s a holiday to honour the birthday of a specific president, Washington, it should be President’s Day.

That would be true before 1968. Lincoln's Birthday is now also celebrated on Presidents' Day.

Originally Posted by Oisín 

Moreover, many names of institutions, holidays, concepts, etc., that use a plural noun as their first constituent are made in a way where the plural noun acts more like an adjective than a possessive. Institutions like the United States Senate, to take a random example, are of this type. Presidents Day, if you prefer to spell it like that, is another of the same type.

Yes, technically Presidents Day is also acceptable. Assuming it wasn't a proper noun and they were talking about a day in general for presidents, the apostrophe would be at the end. I'm an amateur grammar nazi.

Originally Posted by Oisín 

Presidents’ Day is actually the name that makes the least sense, since there’s no logical plural to refer to; it’s mostly used by people who don’t know what they’re actually celebrating.

Originally it was to celebrate Washington, but then it was made into a floating holiday and stuck on a Monday for business purposes. When that happened, it became a dual holiday for both Washington and Lincoln. There was even a proposal to include Martin Luther King and change the name of the holiday, but it was struck down.

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by PER3 

No, it isn't. Some things are just done differently in different places.

The problem is that there are definitely different grammatical, spelling, and vocabulary rules for the different evolved "dialects" of English. In the UK (and elsewhere), gasoline is referred to as petrol...but we'd never use that term here in the US.

I think it's more accurate within the confines of US English to refer to companies with singular nouns rather than plural. Seeing as it's not grammatically incorrect and it's the more commonly used syntax, I'd say it's the preferred syntax as well.

<edit>
The Economist apparently recommends using singular verbs when referring to companies as a whole:

http://www.economist.com/research/st...fm?page=805687

There's not really a hard and fast rule for it; I think it just depends on where you are.
</edit>

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

That would be true before 1968. Lincoln's Birthday is now also celebrated on Presidents' Day.

See the Snopes article:

Originally Posted by snopes

some states still observe Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays as separate holidays, some states observe only Washington's Birthday, some states commemorate both with a single Presidents' Day (or Lincoln-Washington Day), and some states celebrate neither.

[tooki]

Oh. My. God. You all are still arguing about whether organizations are treated as singular or plural?!?

It's so simple: in the U.S., they are treated as singular. Elsewhere, as plural. That's it. Neither method is categorically right or wrong. One way is right in one place and vice versa. That's it. Capisci?

US: Microsoft makes lousy operating systems.
UK: Microsoft make lousy operating systems.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

See the Snopes article:

States don't govern citizenship. Presidents' Day (plural) is how the Federal Government recognizes it, so that's how it's spelled for people who want to become citizens.

After they're citizens, they can spell it however the State they reside in wants to spell it.

[Oisín]

This is why people hate the English language. Seriously.

—“How do I spell this word?”
—“That depends. Are you a citizen yet? See, if you’re not a citizen, it’s like this. If you are a citizen, it’s either like this or like this or like this, depending on which state you currently live in. Simple, innit?”

[Railroader]

I believe it is one of the immigration litmus tests.