improving english language

I guess anonymous has been banned. I've used it for a while a long time ago indeed. Quite handy. So social/religion activists developed software and provided proxies to bypass the ban for their own benifit. And they put such things in junk mails. Sometimes I get such stuff and find it handy for browsing interesting stuff. But for now, all of these stuff themselves that I've found have been banned.


As for accents in the U.S, I would like to recall a day when I was in church. I wasn't actually getting close to the god back then. It was just because a friend of mine was Christin, and she thought I might like listening to the American missionary lady tell some interesting stories. After all, the church is a place English learners & religious people congregate. I went there and ten other Americans happend to have arrived for a visit. They were to join the lady spreading their religion. As those people started to talk, I was able to tell that they were from northern U.S. And seconds after that, one of them started to make self-introduction, informing us that they were from N.J, Pa., M.I, M.A....etc. I had never had such experience before. Maybe it's because of the movies I watched, those with Americans from all over the country, and filmed in all states of the States. Anyway, still can't completely understand someone if he speaks too fast. I may talk real quickly when I find no difficulty expressing everything in my mind, but some people throwing me something surprising at that speed to me could really drive me mad. BTW, I've been speaking in U.S accent(northern type). Ain't doing a terrible job actually(grin).

Souper man said:

There are many accents in the US as well. New yorkers, Southern, Rednecks, and mideast(like Illinois, Michigan) all varies a lot

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It's fun. I've talked to my old man's friend from M.I on the phone, and spoken to a New Yorker in person. They DID sound different. I don't know how to describe in words, by they did. This man Nelson from Ann Arbor, we've been typing to each other for six years. He's too old to be interested in figuring out how to start a voice coversation. Yet he told me a lot about accents and dialects throughout the U.S. About how the hillbillies in the south speak. Interesting stories and jokes.

No matter which different parts of the U.S you guys are from, you don't really have much difficulty understanding each other, even thought that you've got different accents, is that correct? If it's true, then I think you will find it a little hard to believe that I have problem understanding someone living 200 miles from my hometown. Accents in here just vary so greatly from place to place that it's normal to see two Chinese with difficulty understanding each other.

Now I suppose I can't criticise too much as my spelling and grammar isn't perfect, but after visiting these forums for awhile, one thing I've noticed is that many members here don't know how to use apostrophes properly.

Apostrophes are used in the following circumstances:
Abbreviations, for example:
That's no good, you'll blow that LED up as it doesn't have a series resistor.
You've got a long way to go before you can become an electronics engineer.
You're = you are; many people get you're confused with your which is the possessive form of you:
Here's an example usage for your and you're:
You're the best.
Your car is faster than mine.

Possessive, for example:
The capacitor's maximum voltage rating is 25V.
John's nose is bigger than Fred's.
The Jones' garden is smaller than our garden; notice that Jones already has an es on the end so to make it possessive we append an apostrophe.

However there are (as always with the English language) exceptions to the rule:
Its without an apostrophe, is always possessive and so is ours, for example:
Look at that cat, its tail is longer than its body!
The neighbour's car is bigger than ours.
Remember it's with an apostrophe is short for it is.

Apostrophes should never be used for plural unless it's also possessive, for example the following should never have an apostrophe:
Two capacitors in parallel gives the sum total of their capacitances.
Water pipes can burst if they freeze in winter.
My older brother only likes music from the 80s.

Hero999 said:

Apostrophes should never be used for plural unless it's also possessive, for example the following should never have an apostrophe:
Capacitors.
Pipes.
80s.

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Actually, the AP Style Book, which is the journalistic bible for correct usage, indicates that an apostrophe should be used with numbers which relate to dates, temperatures, speeds and some other occurances. For example:

The Cold War came to an end in the 80's.
Yesterday's high temperature was in the mid 80's.
His average time for several runs was in the 60's.

I'm glad you clarified that you're and your business. Seeing that very common error has always given me shivers, along with the mis-use of then instead of than.

I'm was going by Wikipedia which relects the most modern usage and it doesn't have apostrophes in numbers.

For example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990s

EDIT:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe#Use_in_forming_certain_plurals

Wikipedia said:

For groups of years, the apostrophe at the end cannot be regarded as necessary, since there is no possibility of misreading. For this reason, most authorities prefer 1960s to 1960's[5] (although the latter is noted by at least one source as acceptable in American usage),[6] and 90s or '90s to 90's or '90's.

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I personallly prefer 90s than 90's. I'm generally against the use of apostrophes for plurals unless it's also possessive.

What about the plural of acronyms like "PIC"? I've recently read that the aposthope+s shouldn't be used, unless the acronym ends in "s".

Reference: **broken link removed**

I wouldn't use an apostrophe even if it does end in an 's' in which case I would append an 'es', for example OSes (Operating Systems).

What does PIC stand for?
I don't think it stands for anything, it's an abbreviation for a series of part numbers with a common architecture like the x86, isn't it?

Strictly speaking, letters that stand for something aren't really acronyms unless the form a word; they are merely initials, for example NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) is not an acronym but FAT (File Allocation Table) is.

Thank you for your reply.

PIC stands for Peripheral Interface Controller.


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Hero999 said:

Strictly speaking, letters that stand for something aren't really acronyms unless the form a word; they are merely initials, for example NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) is not an acronym but FAT (File Allocation Table) is.

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I think that "NATO" can be strictly considered an acronym, though. In this page they say that the initials must form a pronunceable abbreviation.

Hero999 said:

I wouldn't use an apostrophe even if it does end in an 's' in which case I would append an 'es', for example OSes (Operating Systems).

What does PIC stand for?
I don't think it stands for anything, it's an abbreviation for a series of part numbers with a common architecture like the x86, isn't it?

Strictly speaking, letters that stand for something aren't really acronyms unless the form a word; they are merely initials, for example NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) is not an acronym but FAT (File Allocation Table) is.

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According to Wikipedia, an acronym is any initialism that is pronounced as a word. By their definition, NATO, RADAR, etc., are acronyms.
I realize that Wikipedia is not necessarily the final authority on anything.
Hero, does it seem like I disagree with you on an inordinate number of issues? If so, it's nothing personal, although it might become so if we ever met.

That's alright because you've convinced me on this occasion, so yes NATO is an acronym but ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is not.

Hero999 said:

I'm was going by Wikipedia which relects the most modern usage .

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I wouldn't consider Wikipedia to be the final authority on anything, because anyone sans credentials can contribute to its content.

The AP stylebook is produced by a panel of grammarians to indicate the most appropriate usage of the language and is used by professionals.

How old is it?

Were they all from the US?

I'll agree to disagree, I prefer not using apostrophes for numbers because it looks wrong as it's neither an abreviation and nor is it possessive.

eng1 said:

Thank you for your reply.

PIC stands for Peripheral Interface Controller.

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Actually that's just the most common guess, and the one I would go for as well, but even MicroChip don't appear to know for sure

"Can I bum a fag?"

In North-American english ... you know what this means.
In British english, its asking to have a cigarette.

Isnt english fun?

Most of use here in the UK are familiar with the US meaning for fag and bum, when used in this context, means to bottom assault someone so I think we would interpret it in the same manner as you.

However if I were to say that someone had to go round picking up fag buts as a punishment you might be excused for misunderstanding it.

When I was in Ireland with my family, we learned the difference between "Give a ride" and "Give a lift." The old gentleman was quite happy for a second, until he realized that we were American.