On Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:41:55 +0100, "TonyB" <hatt.j.bennett@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Six words, and you didn't bother reading them?
>>>>
>>>> Cauli's is acceptable ONLY IF you use cauli' as the singular.
>>>> I don't, and I'm prepared to bet you don't either.
>>>
>>>Not only are you rude, Ian, you are also wrong.
>>>"Cauli's" is perfectly acceptable as a pleural, the apostrophe denotes
the
>>>missing "flower" part of the word. Therefore
>>>"cauli's" equals "cauliflowers".
>>>
>>
>> I think not reading what I'm saying is the rude bit!
>> "Cauli's" is NOT acceptable as a plural for "cauli".
>> Thge elision nhas occurred in the si ngular - why would it need
>> marking only in the plural?
>
>I'm not sure what you are trying to say Ian. No greengrocer would attempt
to
>sell
>a single cauliflower so by putting a sign up that says "Cauli's" he
implies
>he
>has more than one cauliflower to sell. Hence "Cauli's" is correct whereas
>"Lemon's" is not correct no matter how many he is trying to sell.
>
>The reason "Cauli's" is correct is that the apostrophe denotes the
missing
>"flowers"
>part and does not imply posession nor is it an abbreviation. These are
the
>other possible
>uses of the apostrophe. One may only use the word "Cauli's" as a pleural,
in
>the singular
>it would indeed be incorrect. If the shop has only one cauliflower to
sell,
>then the sign
>"Cauli's" would be wrong, because "Cauli's " equals "Cauliflowers"
>
>You say "Cauli's" is NOT acceptable as a plural for "cauli" but you
don't
>attempt to explain why.
>I'm trying to show you that it's the same as the word "photo'" where
>"photo's" is equal to
>"photographs".
>
Tony, I know all about the apostrophe marking an elision. Look at the
sentence you just wrote. Now tell me why "photo's" is equal to
"photographs" when "photo" is apparently not equal to "photograph"?
It is arguable that the apostrophe should be used in these words - it
would be an archaic and very strange usage, but it's arguable - but if
it is, it should be used in the singular. It is never acceptable to
use an apostrophe to form a plural. *
To go back to what I said in the first place - "cauli's" is - just -
arguably correct as a plural for "cauli' " but NOT for "cauli".
* There is a more respectable exception, which I think is both archaic
and American - an apostrophe used to be used for plurals of single
letters and abbreviations. "Mind your p's and q's" and "M.P.'s" are
not so much wrong as to be avoided.
--
Ian D
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