Man, I just wrote a longer version of the following post and lost it. I am not going to write as much this time, for fear of losing it all along the roadside of the information not-so-superhighway again, but here's the gyst (sp.?) of what I wrote:
Mr. POSTman
I am starting a new post. As a tangent to the blogging about BnB music, this thread of posts will be for those sticklers and pedants who like to pick posts apart looking for grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, typos and omissions (Hi there, KIM).
Here is the riddle for the day:
PLEASE PUNCTUATE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE(S) CORRECTLY WITHOUT ADDING, DELETING, OR CHANGING ANY WORDS:
smith where jones had had had had had had had had had had the teachers approval
Source: The British version of the PRAXIS test, given to would-be teachers of English abroad.
THE FIRST CORRECT RESPONSE WINS A TUNA SURPRISE BEEF TACO TO SHARE WITH SPOONER STREET'S MALIK MCDONALD!
Here is the day's random musing:
OK, apostrophes can fill in for missing letters, as "can't" fills in for "cannot," " '77" stands for "1977," or "don't" shortens "do not." They can also show possession, as with "the lady's nine hats" or "the nine ladies' hats." So WHY do people put apostrophes in the plural of letter grades, as in, "I earned two C's this quarter," when no letters are omitted and the grades are not possessive (of anything but one's future ... he hehe)?
When I once asked this question, one of my students offered the example of the Oakland A's as an exception, but she didn't realize that the apostrophe in "A's" is filling in for the missing letters in "Athletics," so the team does not consist of several letter As running around, although it might have a few type-A personalities.
Now I know there are some words out there where the apostrophe is in the wrong place. Whenever I see one of these rare gems, I wonder whose bright idea it was to contract it as such. I'm asking you to post some of these contractions for me since, try as I might, I can't think of an example. It would be something like "would'nt" (if it wasn't actually "wouldn't"), where the apostrophe is not where the "o" would be, but somewhere else entirely. Hey ... that rhymed!
It wasn't where the "o" would be /
but somewhere else entirely
Just call me Tennyson, hah!
Well, good luck with the riddle and the trivia question. That Malik McDonald taco tastes a lot like it was raised by a cheetah, but it'll keep you warm at night.
/$(0tT
Mr. POSTman
I am starting a new post. As a tangent to the blogging about BnB music, this thread of posts will be for those sticklers and pedants who like to pick posts apart looking for grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, typos and omissions (Hi there, KIM).
Here is the riddle for the day:
PLEASE PUNCTUATE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE(S) CORRECTLY WITHOUT ADDING, DELETING, OR CHANGING ANY WORDS:
smith where jones had had had had had had had had had had the teachers approval
Source: The British version of the PRAXIS test, given to would-be teachers of English abroad.
THE FIRST CORRECT RESPONSE WINS A TUNA SURPRISE BEEF TACO TO SHARE WITH SPOONER STREET'S MALIK MCDONALD!
Here is the day's random musing:
OK, apostrophes can fill in for missing letters, as "can't" fills in for "cannot," " '77" stands for "1977," or "don't" shortens "do not." They can also show possession, as with "the lady's nine hats" or "the nine ladies' hats." So WHY do people put apostrophes in the plural of letter grades, as in, "I earned two C's this quarter," when no letters are omitted and the grades are not possessive (of anything but one's future ... he hehe)?
When I once asked this question, one of my students offered the example of the Oakland A's as an exception, but she didn't realize that the apostrophe in "A's" is filling in for the missing letters in "Athletics," so the team does not consist of several letter As running around, although it might have a few type-A personalities.
Now I know there are some words out there where the apostrophe is in the wrong place. Whenever I see one of these rare gems, I wonder whose bright idea it was to contract it as such. I'm asking you to post some of these contractions for me since, try as I might, I can't think of an example. It would be something like "would'nt" (if it wasn't actually "wouldn't"), where the apostrophe is not where the "o" would be, but somewhere else entirely. Hey ... that rhymed!
It wasn't where the "o" would be /
but somewhere else entirely
Just call me Tennyson, hah!
Well, good luck with the riddle and the trivia question. That Malik McDonald taco tastes a lot like it was raised by a cheetah, but it'll keep you warm at night.
/$(0tT
4 Comments:
Wow! In record time, we received a winning entry for the riddle of the day. It was a record not only because it came to us via e-mail less than one hour after the initial posting, but also because this was the FIRST riddle of the day, so ANY amount of time would have been a record.
Well, our congrats go out to Herschel W. Dischell of Manchester, UK, who e-mailed the band with the correct punctuation for the riddle of the day. Check out Herschel's reponse:
Herschel wrote:
That's bloody easy, mates. The correct punctuation is as follows:
Smith, where Jones had had "had", had had "had had"; "had had" had the teacher's approval.
Oh, pardon my Oxford comma. I know you yanks like it inside your quotation marks; here it is in your 'language,' you wankers:
Smith, where Jones had had "had," had had "had had;" "had had" had the teacher's approval.
God Save the Quotation Mark,
Herschel
Well, Herschel. You are the winner. Should we mail your taco overseas? If so, Malik might not be too comfortable; you see, he would have to accompany the taco to merry old England, as he was part of the prize we offered for your correct punctuation of the sentence. Well, get back to us with your thoughts on how we can send you your COMPLETE prize all the way over there in Manchester. Go Man U.!
Stay tuned for more nuttiness. Pass the TP.
Yours,
BnBKeys
what the heck is this babble?
is this comprehendable?
do we care?
what happend to the music?
didn't school end?
I TOLD you Scott would be bored once school got out... we are in sooo much trouble.
oh on!!
was a blog really a good idea???
what did we just do to us?
BnB~drums
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