grammar rantish thingy

[rynne]

I should either be in bed or finishing my essay, but instead I'm reading fanfic, and I keep coming across something that's getting really damn annoying.

In two days time.

In three weeks time.

In four months time.

Etc.

JEDSJKGAJGKADFKJAD;FJGAGERKLDAKJDFLGDFAG!!1!

I guess people don't get that those are short and non-awkward ways of saying something like "the time belonging to two days/three weeks/four months/etc."? 'Cause that's what they're supposed to be, and it should be "two days' time", "three weeks' time", "four months' time", and all that.

YOU NEED THE BLOODY APOSTROPHE.

It just makes no sense without the apostrophe. Without it, those time periods are pluralized, and it's just...what? What the hell does that mean? Maybe it's that it's 3:30 am right now, but I can't think of any meaning at all if there's no apostrophe when you're talking about something happening in two days' time. The time is being possessed by the time period (days/weeks/months/etc.), and therefore needs the apostrophe to indicate that possession.

Ragjkddjf.

Okay, done ranting. Back to your regularly scheduled...whatever it is that I usually post. :p

Comments

[yeats.livejournal.com]

I like to imagine that, in those instances, what's missing is a comma. Thus:

In two days, time will cease to exist.
In three weeks, time will beat up space and steal its lunch money.


*waves from this sleepless corner of fandom*

[rynne.livejournal.com]

Oh, lah. I love you. That's totally brilliant. :D

[yeats.livejournal.com]

Punctuation diversity, m'dear. Wave of the future. :D

[underlucius.livejournal.com]

Gah! I know - that drives me INSANE!!!! As does "the hippogriff shook it's head."

*smites*

Hello! Just thought I'd say Hi while I'm here, wanted you to know that I rarely comment, but I always read!

xxx

[rynne.livejournal.com]

Oh God, the its/it's thing drives me crazy, too, but usually if a fic has a bunch of those, it has other mistakes too, and I don't stick around to find out. But the two days' time, etc., doesn't seem to be that well known, because it's all over the place, even in otherwise grammatically good fics, and it's just akdgj;kgj;asdf.

[fadagaski.livejournal.com]

Amen to grammar rules and all that.

Your icon ... it has a spelling error. :S 'Possessive'. Four S's.

[rynne.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know. On two of the slides, too. But I have zero expertise at making/modifying icons, so I don't know how to fix it, and it was still the most appropriate icon for this post. :p

[fadagaski.livejournal.com]

Heh. ^_^

[marauderthesn.livejournal.com]

Apostrophes have become so unloved. It drives me crazy.

[rynne.livejournal.com]

I <333 apostrophes. :D

[krabapple.livejournal.com]

Hey, there!

I got your email; I just haven't been around online the last couple of days. Sorry!

I also have a whole big reply which can be boiled down to this:

a) I hope to be on IM maybe tommorrow afternoon and evening my time; definitely Friday it looks like. I'm also off on Christmas vacation after Friday, so I should be around a lot more then. (yahoo ID is jennylilye. I think. I hardly ever use it, but I have trillian, so I'm usually still signed in.)

b) I feel your pain about Luke. I just . . . I really like him as he is, but I understand why you think he might be dark enough. I found his thoughts about forcing Mara to be disconcerting, but I don't think it's because they were suddenly out-of-character, I think it's because they are actually disturbing. As for Vader . . . he's a little on the warm and fuzzy side. A bit. I like it, but I keep trying to picture him in full cape and helmet, and it's harder . . . but maybe that's the point, that I keep thinking of Anakin. I think tainting his affection for Luke with control issues (which are there, for sure already) helps make him less likely to be nominated for father of the year. :) I thought the torture scene was great, though, including the fact that we was bored.

c) I totally got the dreams as what happens in Return of the Jedi, if that's what you were intending. :)

Anyway, I'll try to be around more later this week, I promise.

P.S. I love Mara. I mean, I'm a huge fan of hers anyway, but I really like her here, too. :)

[rynne.livejournal.com]

a) Good! I've got the entire day off tomorrow (except studying for my last final, but that's on Friday), so we can talk then. Not on Friday at all, cuz I've got that last final and then travelling back home. I personally prefer Y!M, 'cause you can be online to a few people and offline to everyone else, so do you mind if we use that?

b) Let's talk about the characterization stuff on IM, and maybe you can help me make Vader a bit less warm and fuzzy. :p

:D I'm glad you like Mara! I doo too. *g*

[rynne.livejournal.com]

...do too. I totally get you on wanting to be able to edit comments. XD

[krabapple.livejournal.com]

uh. why he might not be dark enough.

I hate not being able to edit comments. :(