Project a Professional Image... use a Spell Checker!

[Mike Phillips]

Project a Professional Image... use a Spell Checker!

Hey everyone, although discussion forums are kind of what we call, Freewheeling, as in a casual atmosphere, at the same time it's always nice to make it easy for your forum friends to read what you write as well as make yourself look smart too!

Historically, Internet Explorer has been the most commonly used Browser for surfing the Internet although in recent years FireFox has been taking away their market share. If you're using Internet Explorer for a browser, here's a handy little add-on tool that will enable you to Spell Check your writing before you hit the Submit Button and post your thoughts for the entire world to read.

Free Spell Checker for Internet Explorer!


If you're using Internet Explorer and you don't have this cool little utility installed, then give it some thought, it's FREE and really helps to make your posts read better as well as make you look better. (Or at least it will make you look smarter )

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Project a Professional Image... use a Spell Checker!

The newest version of Firefox automatically spell checks for you as you type, it will place a red zig-zag line under any misspelled words to which you can then use your mouse to "Right Click" on the misspelled word and choose the correct word from a list of available options.

If the word is a real word and not in your dictionary, like polishable then you can select to add the word.

We're not sure about the spell checking features of other browsers such as Crazy Browser or Opera etc., but if you use one of these other browsers and know whether they offer this feature then please feel free to chime in.

[gorin002]

Re: Project a Professional Image... use a Spell Checker!

i have in the outlook express a spell checker

[rusty bumper]

Re: Project a Professional Image... use a Spell Checker!

Spell checkers are a life saver.

[gb387]

Re: Project a Professional Image... use a Spell Checker!

Spell checkers are a life saver for me... in my case I use the Google tool bar.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Project a Professional Image... use a Spell Checker!

Spell checkers are a life saver for me... in my case I use the Google tool bar.

Of course then there's these...

[STG]

Re: Project a Professional Image... use a Spell Checker!

Good idea. It will be up to each poster to learn that plurals do not require apostrophes!


What is it with plurals and the car business anyway? I've seen countless ads by high-end dealerships listing Ferrari's, Porsche's, Aston Martin's and BMW's. That's professional!

P.S.: Even though there is more than one person in Barry's family, Meguiar's is possessive, not plural.

(Hope I splelled everythik O.K.)

[rusty bumper]

Re: Project a Professional Image... use a Spell Checker!

Good idea. It will be up to each poster to learn that plurals do not require apostrophes!


What is it with plurals and the car business anyway? I've seen countless ads by high-end dealerships listing Ferrari's, Porsche's, Aston Martin's and BMW's. That's professional!

P.S.: Even though there is more than one person in Barry's family, Meguiar's is possessive, not plural.

(Hope I splelled everythik O.K.)

Good point.

What does it mean to place the apostrophe after the s' ? Is that possessive too?

[JSM]

Re: Project a Professional Image... use a Spell Checker!

While spell checkers are great, remember the grammatical errors too!

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Project a Professional Image... use a Spell Checker!

Good idea. It will be up to each poster to learn that plurals do not require apostrophes!

Guilty as charged. Common mistake we make all the time.

For some reason, adding the letter "s" on the back of S.U.V. never types well or looks right in a sentence,

Zelium X7 works great on trucks, cars and s.u.v.s.

Zelium X7 works great on Trucks, Cars and S.U.V.s.

[SVT Lightning]

Re: Project a Professional Image... use a Spell Checker!

While spell checkers are great, remember the grammatical errors too!

I agree. Just too bad that someone hasn't come up with a punkyooayshun checker yet!

[kellyinkc]

Re: Project a Professional Image... use a Spell Checker!

Or there is this:
Marry hat hey lid tell lam, ids fleas woes wide has know.

[STG]

Re: Project a Professional Image... use a Spell Checker!

Good point.

What does it mean to place the apostrophe after the s' ? Is that possessive too?

Forming possessives of nouns

To see if you need to make a possessive, turn the phrase around and make it an "of the..." phrase. For example:

the boy's hat = the hat of the boy

three days' journey = journey of three days

If the noun after "of" is a building, an object, or a piece of furniture, then no apostrophe is needed!

room of the hotel = hotel room

door of the car = car door

leg of the table = table leg

Once you've determined whether you need to make a possessive, follow these rules to create one.

• add 's to the singular form of the word (even if it ends in -s):

the owner's car

James's hat

• add 's to the plural forms that do not end in -s:

the children's game

the geese's honking

• add ' to the end of plural nouns that end in -s:

houses' roofs

three friends' letters

• add 's to the end of compound words:

my brother-in-law's money

• add 's to the last noun to show joint possession of an object:

Todd and Anne's apartment

Showing omission of letters

Apostrophes are used in contractions. A contraction is a word (or set of numbers) in which one or more letters (or numbers) have been omitted. The apostrophe shows this omission. Contractions are common in speaking and in informal writing. To use an apostrophe to create a contraction, place an apostrophe where the omitted letter(s) would go. Here are some examples:

don't = do not

I'm = I am

he'll = he will

who's = who is

shouldn't = should not

didn't = did not

could've= could have (NOT "could of"!)

'60 = 1960

Forming plurals of lowercase letters

Apostrophes are used to form plurals of letters that appear in lowercase; here the rule appears to be more typographical than grammatical, e.g. "three ps" versus "three p's." To form the plural of a lowercase letter, place 's after the letter. There is no need for apostrophes indicating a plural on capitalized letters, numbers, and symbols (though keep in mind that some editors, teachers, and professors still prefer them). Here are some examples:

p's and q's = a phrase indicating politeness, possibly from "mind your pleases and thankyous"?

Nita's mother constantly stressed minding one's p's and q's.

three Macintosh G4s = three of the Macintosh model G4

There are two G4s currently used in the writing classrom.

many &s = many ampersands

That printed page has too many &s on it.

the 1960s = the years in decade from 1960 to 1969

The 1960s were a time of great social unrest.

Don't use apostrophes for possessive pronouns or for noun plurals.

Apostrophes should not be used with possessive pronouns because possessive pronouns already show possession -- they don't need an apostrophe. His, her, its, my, yours, ours are all possessive pronouns. Here are some examples:



wrong: his' book

correct: his book



wrong: The group made it's decision.

correct: The group made its decision.

(Note: Its and it's are not the same thing. It's is a contraction for "it is" and its is a possesive pronoun meaning "belonging to it." It's raining out= it is raining out. A simple way to remember this rule is the fact that you don't use an apostrophe for the possesives his or hers, so don't do it with its!)



wrong: a friend of yours'

correct: a friend of yours



wrong: She waited for three hours' to get her ticket.

correct: She waited for three hours to get her ticket.

Proofreading for apostrophes

A good time to proofread is when you have finished writing the paper. Try the following strategies to proofread for apostrophes:

• If you tend to leave out apostrophes, check every word that ends in -s or -es to see if it needs an apostrophe.

• If you put in too many apostrophes, check every apostrophe to see if you can justify it with a rule for using apostrophes.

[rusty bumper]

Re: Project a Professional Image... use a Spell Checker!

Thanks STG!

I copied that info to my hard drive for future reading.

[STG]

Re: Project a Professional Image... use a Spell Checker!

So,how many hard drive's do you have?