首页
登录
职称英语
The moment I saw the sign Principals Office in my son’s school I knew the
The moment I saw the sign Principals Office in my son’s school I knew the
游客
2024-10-13
1
管理
问题
The moment I saw the sign Principals Office in my son’s school I knew the apostrophe was doomed. The correct English would have been Principal’s Office, with an apostrophe indicating the office belonged to the principal or head of the school. Having an apostrophe in my name Noel O’Hare--frequently omitted--I have always felt rather attached to this misunderstood piece of punctuation. Apostrophe abuse, like drug abuse, can be found at every level of society, from the local school to the company boardroom. Shops and businesses are some of the worse offenders, omitting apostrophe as in "the Razors Edge, men’s hairdressing" (The Razors Edge is incorrect--it needs an apostrophe in Razor’s , but men’s hairdressing is correct).
You’d think that bookshop would at least have some feeling for proper English usage, but even major chains such as Whitcoulls have abandoned the apostrophe. It’s left to the American fastfood franchise McDonald’s to set an example.
Literacy is not something you expect to find in television. Despite the responsibility of serving a mass audience, television graphics writers appear never to have mastered the difference between "its" and "it’s", and other apostrophes are often misplaced or omitted. The misuse sometimes leads to wholesale plagiarism. Poor Charles Dickens; television versions of his novels are often passed off as "Charles Dicken’s" works.
The widespread misuse of the apostrophe is, the argument goes, impoverishing the language by reducing clarity. If I omit the apostrophe from a phrase such as "my friends house" it is impossible to tell whether I mean one friend or several ( though it may often be clear from the context). In correct usage, "my friend’s house" would mean the house of one friend; "my friends’ house" would mean a house where several friends lived. On the other hand, the gross misuse of the apostrophe in a sentence such as "Its you’re birthday" does nothing to diminish the meaning (the correct usage would be "It’s (It is) your birthday" ).
English teachers, though, no longer take a hard line on the use of apostrophes. Richard Hogg, professor of English at Manchester University and editor of The Cambridge History of the English Language, recently made news when he revealed that "he would not go to the stake" to maintain the difference between "it’s" and "its". The apostrophe, he suggested, is fast becoming redundant. Laurie Bauer, researcher in linguistics at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, and a keen apostrophe watcher, agrees that the apostrophe is dying in its present form and that its misuse is not a major linguistic crime. "There are some (misuses) that don’t matter and some that may not matter. The number of times where you’re actually going to be confused between ’I’ll’ and ’Ill’ is actually small." There is greater ambiguity, for instance, between the present tense and past tense of the verb "read". "Sometimes that can be very con- fusing," says Bauer, "but people don’t complain, because it’s well established."
It’s easy for the likes of Bauer to be blase about the decline of the apostrophe--she doesn’t have an apostrophe in her name, as I do. Personally, I think this linguistic slovenliness is clear evidence the country is going to the dog’s. [br] Which of the following statements about Laurie Bauer is true?
选项
A、She is strongly against Richard Hogg’s view about the misuse of apostrophes.
B、The writer finds it difficult to agree with her view about the misuse of apostrophes.
C、She thinks that the omission of apostrophe from "I’11" cannot lead to ambiguity.
D、She believes that people are unaware of the ambiguity between the present tense and past tense of the verb "read".
答案
B
解析
文章倒数第二段谈Laurie Bauer对撇号误用的看法,总的说来这位研究者对这种现象的态度比较宽容,但作者在最后一段中对此表示难以苟同,因此选B。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3799609.html
相关试题推荐
ThereisawindowintheofficewhereIworkthatoverlookstheplayground
Teenagerswhodropoutofschooldo______fordifferentreasons.A、themB、/C、itD
Wheredoesthemoneyforpublicschoolscomefrom?[br][originaltext]Educ
Wheredoesthemoneyforpublicschoolscomefrom?[br][originaltext]Educ
Wheredoesthemoneyforpublicschoolscomefrom?[originaltext]Education
WhatdoesTheMomentofIsaacNewtonrefertointhenews?[originaltext]He
______hearrivedatthespot,herealizedwhathadhappenedthere.A、Themoment
IthinkIwasatschool,______Iwasstayingwithafriendduringthevacation
InIndia,______schoolingbeginsatage6andendsatage14.A、compulsoryB、compe
Inamomentthelittlebird,setfreeafterbeingencagedforweeks,wouldrise
随机试题
说明:假设你是CarryTrade公司的市场部经理王刚,请按以下内容给Smith先生写一封催款信。时间:3月17日内容:1.Smith先生已于两个月前收
Lifeonearthdependsonthesun.Dayafterdayweseeitslightandfeeli
《普通高等学生辅导员队伍建设规定》指出,辅导员评聘教师职务应坚持()相结合的原则
检测混凝土强度的拔出法为非破损检测方法。
认为儿童道德判断是从他律到自律,从效果到动机的发展过程,持这种观点的心理学家是(
下列场所的消防工程中,应该向公安消防机构申请消防设计审核的是( )。
以下哪项是川芎茶调散的主治病证A气虚头痛 B肝风头痛 C痰厥头痛 D血虚头
下列各项会计信息质量要求中,需要从项目性质和金额大小两个方面判断的是()。A.
根据启闭机结构形式分类,型号“QP-□×□-□/□”表示的是( )启闭机。A、卷
关于地役权,下列表述正确的是()。A.当事人应当采用书面形式订立地役权合同
最新回复
(
0
)