I had no fewer than twelve Sircam-virus containing emails this morning, form
`dinesh'! Now, I am a naive in cyberspace, but I decided to expose myself as
such rather than risk a worse consequence: An article on this site:
http://www.antionline.com/showthread.php?threadid=85586
claims that this virus has a "one in 20 chance that it would follow orders
to delete files on Oct. 16". Should something dramatic be done, such as
keeping off this Listserve on that date?
Sophie Johnson
at ENGLISH GRAMMAR TUTOR
http://www.englishgrammartutor.com/
[log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Veit, UNCW English Department <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2001 7:59 AM
Subject: Do I or don't I?
> Here's a usage question. I need to put a header on a web page. Which
should
> I choose?
>
> A. Dos and Don'ts
> B. Do's and Don'ts
> C. Do's and Don't's
>
> I searched for all three using the Google search engine to survey common
> practice and got the following results:
>
> A. 136,000 web sites
> B. 157,000 sites
> C. 8,850 sites
>
> I also got 17,200 sites with "Do's and Dont's" and 4,050 with "Dos and
> Donts." Since I'm assuming the use of apostrophes to mark contractions,
I'm
> ignoring these last two.
>
> My inclination accords with the plurality. I favor B, but a colleague of
> mine favors C. I'd like informed advice from y'all.
>
> My reasoning for favoring B, even though A and C are internally consistent
> in their use/nonuse of apostrophes, is this: Although apostrophes are
> generally not used for plurals, an exception is made when punctuation is
> needed to prevent confusion, as in:
>
> A's are hard to get from Prof. Gradgrind.
> You sing the do's and re's, and I'll sing the mi's and fa's.
>
> So I lean toward B. The plural of Do needs an apostrophe so it doesn't
look
> like Dos. The plural of Don't doesn't.
>
> What do you think? Citation of authority is especially welcome.
>
> Dick Veit
> UNCW English Department
>
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