Confusing words ending in -s or 's

Compare: Plural - There are 2 churches in the village.
's standing for "is" - The church's at the top of the hill. 's standing for "of" or "of the"(possession) The church's steeple is in a dangerous condition. (The steeple of the church) Try this game for more examples

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Spot the mistakes

Planning a short break online has provided me with lots of material.

What is wrong with the following? There may be more than one error per item.

1
Double rooms are equipped with double bed, complimentry tray with coffee/tea and shortbread, TV, en suite bathroom with complimentry toiletries supplied from Arran Aromatics.

2
Twin/Double rooms have tea and coffee facilities free use of our spa facilities and hair dryer’s in each room Public parking is possible on site (reservation is needed please call to book)

3
We are located on Sauchiehall Street within easy reach of both Glasgow City Centre, close to Glasgow University and Glasgow’s Famous West End, within Walking distance of:

• Kelvingrove Art Gallery

 4
Situated just 50 yards from The George is the Paymasters House. Dating back to 1780 when it was the home of Provost James Campbell. It is now decorated and furnished to 4 star standard.
We are able to offer the individual apartments or rooms within the Paymaster's apartments on an accommodation only basis with breakfast available at The George if requested.

• The Paymaster Master Bedroom
• The Paymasters Annexe
• The Generals Master Bedroom
• The Cornals Master Bedroom
• Miss Marys Apartment
• Peggys Apartment

  

 



Answers
1
Double rooms are equipped with double bed, complimentry tray with coffee/tea and shortbread, TV, en suite bathroom with complimentry toiletries supplied from Arran Aromatics.

They got the tricky bit right complimentary (not complementary - see this post) but mispelt the ending.

2
Twin/Double rooms have tea and coffee facilities, free use of our spa facilities and hair dryer's in each room. Public parking is possible on site. (A reservation is needed. Please call to book.)

Lack of punctuation - I've corrected it.
hairdryer's (ugh) instead of plural hairdryers (see this post)

3
We are located on Sauchiehall Street within easy reach of both Glasgow City Centre, close to Glasgow University and Glasgow’s Famous West End, within Walking distance of:

• Kelvingrove Art Gallery

Random capital letters - see this post

 4
Situated just 50 yards from The George is the Paymasters House. Dating back to 1780 when it was the home of Provost James Campbell, it is now decorated and furnished to 4 star standard.
We are able to offer the individual apartments or rooms within the Paymaster's apartments on an accommodation only basis with breakfast available at The George, if requested.

• The Paymaster Master Bedroom
• The Paymasters Annexe
• The Generals Master Bedroom
• The Cornals Master Bedroom
• Miss Marys Apartment
• Peggys Apartment

The part beginning "Dating" is not a sentence. Fix it with a comma after Campbell and continue the sentence.
And lack of apostrophes denoting possession apart from one correct use in the third line! (See this post.)


I am happy to note that most websites I looked at were well done!

hopefully

My fiftieth post and a bugbear of mine.

Hopefully - I hate this word! It is overused in speech.

Hopefully the train will be on time. Why not say, "I hope the train will be on time."

Hopefully. On its own = I hope so.

hopefully has 2 meanings

1 in a hopeful manner eg It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.

2 it is to be hoped   This is the controversial one. A lot of people, myself included, find this bad usage. It is accepted widely in informal chat but you should avoid it in any kind of formal writing.

Here are some recent examples gleaned from the BBC news site.

Norfolk / 5 January 2012

Tim Phillips, head teacher at Acle High, said the damage at the school would hopefully be repaired later so it could reopen on Friday.

Oxford/ 9 January 2012 "Hopefully in the future I can make amends” Antony Worrall Thompson

Suffolk/ 8 January 2012  "Hopefully, these signs will prompt motorists who see anything suspicious to get in touch immediately, after finding a safe place to stop and make a call to us."

On the northern bottlenose whale:  They had their population significantly reduced by whaling, but are now a protected species and their numbers will hopefully recover.


Ho-hum! I think I am in a minority with this one.

off the wall

of or off?

I think this just boils down to carelessness since they are pronounced differently.

"off" pronounced with F sound, can refer to something detached or apart from something else

the picture fell off the wall
the island is off the coast of Cornwall
to start off
to finish off

some idioms use off: with explanations for foreign readers

to give someone the brush off  = to snub or disregard someone especially in boy/girl relationships
to knock off = to steal ( as well as the usual meaning)
off the wall = crazily unusual
push off! = go away (not rude)
a one-off = one of a kind  (I've never understood why it is not a one "of"!)

"of" pronounced withV sound, has many functions
a pint of beer
days of the week
to think of something or someone
people of America


Compare:

a round of golf
he rounded off the evening with a

a piece of cake
he knocked a piece off the statue

These mistakes were spotted recently:

                          xxxx Jimmy Carr rounds of the present series. xxxx

Well, one of them was right, M&S!


Test yourself

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thunder and lightning

Although the two words can sound the same, there is no E in lightning, so you should really pronounce it differently.  Say it as fast as lightning!


Lightning, the weather.

thunder and lightning

a bolt of lightning

a lightning strike 

he runs like lightning

Lightening comes from the verb to lighten, to make light in the sense of colour, brightness or weight

the sky is lightening

lightening the load

I used to get this one wrong myself. Just think about the meaning.  

emotive v emotional

emotive and emotional are not interchangeable

emotive is used to describe issues which are sensitive or controversial

emotive language is when words are chosen to excite emotions and are used frequently in newspaper reports

eg "slaughtered" is a more emotive word than "killed"

This headline regarding photos of a model with a bruised eye:

Phtotographer behind emotive pictures of Glee start Heather Morris issues an apology. The photo shoot caused much controversy …

This advice about when not to use email:

avoid emotive topics – like appraisals or requests for a pay rise. These are far better dealt with face-to-face. 

The issues of the sectarian and offensive singing both by Celtic and Rangers supporters and Green Brigade's poppy protest predictably proved the most emotive subjects raised during Celtic's AGM.

compare -

emotional is used to describe people's feelings, often sad ones

an emotional day eg at a wedding or funeral

she was emotional means she was in tears or on the verge of tears

eg the headline "Angelina Jolie gets emotional at awards ceremony"

spot the mistakes

Even while out for a meal in the West End, I have been toiling on your behalf.

Can you spot the mistakes in the publicity below?

Answers on ANSWERS PAGE.

1. Monday night's, Quiz Night.
2. Yes it isn't really long until Christmas, Have you still to book your works night out etc..
3. Progressive, Seasonal, fresh pub food …
4. Wee one's. Our children's licence runs until 8pm.
5. Our Fantastic Festive drinks range
6. Why not Host your own roast?