YourEnglishClassDotCom

2 Responses to “Grammar Guru”

1. By John on Jan 23, 2008 | Reply

   I think I might buy the book. She is a hoot. However, and there is always a however; it should always be honOUr, colOUr, and humOUr etc. There should always be two spaces after a period. Last but not least, adding a second ’s’ after Jones’ is just for the Joneses who want to out do the Smiths!

   Great video Tom.

   P.S. The spell checker in your comment entry script doesn’t like the CANADIAN spelling up there.

2. By Grammarian on Jan 21, 2009 | Reply

   To John, a few things:

   1. Spellings with “our,” such as you have listed are British English, not American English which retains more of the original British English spellings.

   2. Having two spaces after a period is highly outdated. Neither APA or MLA styles even require them anymore.

   3. The rule for adding an apostrophe as well as an ’s’ after words that end in ’s,’ states that you should add an extra ’s’ if the word is only one syllable in length and you would thus pronouce it as such. For example, you would pronounce “The Joneses,” as opposed to “The Jones.” However, this rule remains optional for those of you who insist it’s pretentious to add the extra ’s.’

   And lastly, to Tom who created the site, thank you for the things you have posted. My students loved watching The Simpson’s version of “The Raven.” : )