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Writing Tip: Grammar Rodeo #2

Renee Stevens

Entry posted by Renee Stevens in Writing Tips - Skills

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Who's ready for another Grammar Rodeo? A big thanks to Cia for providing these for the blog. They are a great learning tool and include some great tips and tricks to help authors remember what is best to use. Hopefully you'll find Grammar Rodeo #2 as informative as I did!

Grammar Rodeo #2


Those Pesky Word Choices

 

 

 

Past vs. Passed

 


This one is complicated when you consider the many, many variations of past. Past can be used as an adjective, a noun, a preposition, and an adverb. Passed is only used as verb.

 

Let’s start with the easy one: Passed. Passed is the past tense form of the word ‘pass’. It’s the word that indicates an action of passing something that already took place. That is the only accepted use of this word.

 

Verb: A word that indicates an action of physically moving an object.
“He passed me the phone.”

 

Past is a bit more complicated, as it has many uses, however, it is NEVER used as a verb. So if your meaning indicates an action itself, use passed. If you are using the word any other way, use past. I’ll still share the different meanings of past, as the adverb and preposition meanings are what cause the most confusion for people.

 

Adjective: Past-just gone by; elapsed or a time before the present
“The lessons of the past should never be forgotten in the future.” In this case, past is an adjective of the subject ‘the lessons’.

 

Noun: An earlier time; a time before the present
“The past is over.” In this case, the subject (noun) is simply ‘the past’.

 

Adverb: To and beyond a certain point in time.
“Years went past before I learned the truth.” In this case ‘went’ is the verb, so past is being used as an adverb to describe it. How many confuse this one: If you do not have another verb like went in the sentence as the action word, you’d need to change from past to passed. “Years passed before I learned the truth.” Note how passed is now being used to indicate the action itself.

 

Preposition: At the farther side; beyond; after
“We turned at the house just past the one on the corner.” Note that it’s the house ‘past’ the one on the corner. Here past indicates the house they turned at is beyond the house on the corner. The word past is describing the location of the houses.

 

 

 

 

 


Possessive vs. Plural


Let’s do a quick one for this second grammar snafu.

 


Possessive: Add an s or es to a word to indicate more than one.
“Bill’s alarm is going off.” The alarm belongs to Bill, so you use ’s to indicate the possessive use.

Plural: Add s to a word to indicate possession. Example:
“I grew up in the 80s and 90s.” Decades are probably the #1 consistent typo I see of possessive ’s instead of the proper possessive s use.

Variations:
Possessive its: Its is the only use of a possessive word that doesn’t use the apostrophe. It’s is only used to indicate the contraction of it is.
“Its buttons flashed red.” In this case, its refers to an object, not a person, so using it is appropriate but the object still possesses the buttons so you use possessive its.

Words that end in s: Previously, the use of an apostrophe after a word ending in s indicated possession.
“Carlos’ alarm is going off.” In the past, that was the only accepted format. Then, because when you say a word that ends in an s as a possessive, you add the extra s sound, the s’s style gained in popular use and was an accepted variation, even preferred with some editing standards. In 2015, CMoS even switched to s’s being the proper usage and s’ not being an accepted variation.
But really, this one will depend upon your preference and your publisher (if you publish).

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Graeme
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The plural and possessive examples are the wrong way around :) As someone who constantly makes mistakes with apostrophes, that one jumped out at me :P

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Bill W

As Graeme pointed out, your explain of plural and possessive is correct, but the examples are reversed.  I hope you can correct that mistake.  

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ColumbusGuy

I'm gonna cut you some slack Cia, and pose a question: supposedly the new style for words ending in -s is -s's...well and good, but what about something like -the Joneses being a possessive? I learned that in addressing letters to families, it's always The Joneses...so would the letter be, The Joneses's ? Pretty sloppy looking to me--the old way was to say The Joneses'.

Just saying I learned the old way and will stick with it despite what modern stylists pronounce having given in to the lower standards of today--make it easier for the masses rather than try to keep style and grace in speech and writing. In this computerized age, tests and other information is 'dumbed down' for the public, so why should writing be any different? They don't even teach how to write or read cursive lettering anymore--something I find totally unbelievable.

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MikeL
"but what about something like -the Joneses being a possessive?"

 

 

Actually, Joneses is incorrect.  It is not necessary to add an "s" or "es" to a name (or noun) that ends in "s".  The plural of Jones is Jones.  Mr. Jones is the head of the Jones (the Jones family).

 

Also, the possessive of Jones is Jones'.  Just add an apostrophe to the end of Jones.  The apostrophe indicates that something is possessed by the Jones family. No "es" or other suffix is appropriate.

 

I think the term Joneses came into common use from the slogan "keeping up with the Joneses".  This incorrect usage came from Madison Avenue, the Mad Men merely want you to buy something that the Jones already have.  Don't fall for it.

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Cia
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Whoops! I was using copy/paste with my titles and sections off my Word file to the topic in the future blog post forum and mixed up those titles with their proper information sections. The information was sound at least. :P This just goes to show why editing--many times at each step of a writing process--is so important! (And why more than one set of eyes is vital as well)

 

According to Chicago Manual of Style (my style guide of choice as it is a common US epublishing standard) this situation is handled in a mixture of styles. Section 7.8 covers plural proper nouns and Section 7.16 and 7.17 cover possessive s.

 

Plural surnames ending in s:

With a surname that ends in s that is plural, you do add es.

Example: The Joneses bought a new car.

 

Possessive plural surnames with words that end with the s sound:

When you have a surname ending in a plural es, as it is already ending with the additional s sound, you use just the apostrophe and no additional s to indicate possession.

Example: The Joneses' new car is red.

 

Possessive surnames ending in s:

When you have a surname that isn't plural, but ends in s, you would use 's to indicate possession.

Example: Mr. Jones's drive to work in the new car was quiet.

 

Their reasoning is twofold. Most people say the additional 's' sound when they say a word that ends with possessive s, even when the style was to simply use the apostrophe, and it then looks more consistent with other possessive s words. The exception for surnames that are plural ending in the apostrophe alone is that you say the additional 's' sound for the es (as in Jones becoming Joneses) and you do not verbally add another s when you're indicating possession.

 

Try reading the examples aloud and you'll note that most actual speech habits do fall in line with that reasoning.

 

Just because it's the style guide, however, doesn't mean that I'm saying you have to use these formats or that your way is 'wrong' if you don't use it. In 2014 CMoS allowed for both styles as acceptable. In 2015 they've now moved to state 's is the only accepted format. Obviously, editing styles change over time and adapting isn't an easy process.

 

In my Saving Caeorleia series, I refused to use 's for my 2014 eBook release as I learned the apostrophe and no s style growing up, and prefer it, and CMoS allowed for both. This year's release, I had to fight to again not use 's, even though it was now the only accepted format, because it would then make the editing appear inconsistent and 'wrong' in my first book versus the second. My publisher agreed for that reason, but any new works outside of that series will have to adhere to the new 's rule instead.

 

Knowing the rules is good for just that reason; sometimes there are exceptions that are acceptable if you know how to argue your case. ;)

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Lisa

Excuses, excuses! I don't think you'll live this one down, Cia! :P    J/K

 

I look forward to your blog about grammar, punctuation, and the like, because I'm always trying better myself, and I have learned from your postings, Cia, so thank you. :)

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Timothy M.

Thanks for doing the possessive vs plural challenge. Although I did :lol: when I first read it and noticed the mix-up. I'm with Lisa on this, Cia. :P

And will somebody kindly explain the meaning of J/K or JK ? I got JK in a story review once, and I have no clue what it means. :unsure:

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Slytherin

Thanks for doing the possessive vs plural challenge. Although I did :lol: when I first read it and noticed the mix-up. I'm with Lisa on this, Cia. :P

And will somebody kindly explain the meaning of J/K or JK ? I got JK in a story review once, and I have no clue what it means. :unsure:

It means Just kidding - I found out that some time ago :)

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Timothy M.

It means Just kidding - I found out that some time ago :)

 

Thanks, makes sense. :)

 

Tim, aren't you down with the lingo of the kids...? JK! Idk either!

 

No, I'm not, and IDK took me a while to work out too. :lol:

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Cia
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Isn't it interesting how language--and writing--is constantly evolving? I've found that chat/text speak even creeps into writing at times; with the changing technology, there are a lot of stories that incorporate online or phone text communications. I don't believe in writing OMG in plot/story narration, instead of 'Oh my god', but I've seen it used appropriately in dialogue or narration that relates to a message. The difficulty with all this is that, just like any other language, it is constantly evolving and growing with the different generations of 'speakers'. Though, I've found that seems to be a much smaller number of years between each evolution with the constantly changing technology than in the past with non-electronic driven language.

 

These are good sources to find out what people are saying if you're not sure of the acronym "language".

 

http://pc.net/slang/

 

http://chatslang.com/terms/parents(good for writing/reading chatspeak in teen stories)

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wildone
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I never saw the original so I can't tease you, but then again I would NEVER tease you Cia 0:)

 

I never knew about the 80s and 90s :)

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