English Grammar, Spelling and Vocabulary

[Eddie Muir]

However, I never say train station!

I'm really pleased to hear it, Nigel!

[70s-child]

In the UK we think of most rules as applying to the whole, but in the USA many laws are at State level, not National level, which gets very confusing.

Well, fortunately, style rules for writing don't vary by state boundaries! They do however vary by the organization/institution that is publishing the document. This is perfectly legitimate in my opinion, because the priorities and needs of these institutions are entirely different, simply because the type of documents they produce, and the audience they produce them for, are qualitatively different.

By the way, it looks like I misspoke on the Duchess of Cambridge not being capitalized by the CMS. In an obscure clause in the chapter on capitalization, the CMS (a chunky 1000 page volume) says that titles of nobility are a part of the title holder's name, which are therefore proper nouns that need to be capitalized. In a separate Q&A section though they acknowledge that if you are lower-casing the pope, the president, the queen, the emperor, the sultan, the caliph, and so on, as per CMS rules, it does look 'a bit silly' if you suddenly upper-case one title. Particularly silly in my opinion, if that title is the least important of the lot.

Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt this interesting discussion on train stations (which the US uses) versus railway stations, and movies versus films (both terms are used in the US, as indeed is picture - in case you missed it, the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts, and Sciences, still gives the top honors, called the Oscars, to the 'Best Picture').

[Katharine]

Fancy dragging us away from steam engines and bringing us back to the original topic

[70s-child]

Please, don't let that one post stop you! It's actually quite an interesting discussion. It has been a while since I saw a steam train - in real life I mean. I see them on screen of course.

[Fiona1986]

It has been a while since I saw a steam train - in real life I mean. I see them on screen of course.

It's a ...er... STEAM PULLED LOCOMOTIVE...er...TRAIN!!!... or something! Get it right

[mynameisdumbnuts]

Does anyone still say "wind down the window"? Does anyone have a car where the windows still wind down manually?

[Lucky Star]

Does anyone have a car where the windows still wind down manually?

Yes. A 1994 Vauxhall Corsa. I'll get a new one some year. Promise.

[Fiona1986]

Does anyone have a car where the windows still wind down manually?

Yes. A 1994 Vauxhall Corsa. I'll get a new one some year. Promise.

Yep. My boyfriend drives a VW Polo (don't know the year) and it still has wind down/up windows and no central locking. I think my Mum's car is a Ka and that also has windable windows.

[70s-child]

It has been a while since I saw a steam train - in real life I mean. I see them on screen of course.

It's a ...er... STEAM PULLED LOCOMOTIVE...er...TRAIN!!!... or something! Get it right

In my defense, I have to say that even Moonraker, who is clearly a stickler for these things, calls it a steam train! I wonder if anyone, even in the 19th century, ever called it a steam pulled locomotive!

Does anyone have a car where the windows still wind down manually?

Yes. A 1994 Vauxhall Corsa. I'll get a new one some year. Promise.

Yep. My boyfriend drives a VW Polo (don't know the year) and it still has wind down/up windows and no central locking. I think my Mum's car is a Ka and that also has windable windows.

What's up with all this winding up and winding down? I always roll up and roll down my car windows, and that works whether you have manual windows or power ones.

[dsr]

I can confirm that mynameisdumbnuts and mje are BOTH wrong when it comes to how I spell the Queen. When I refer to the Queen, be it our present Queen, her mother, any Queen Mary, whoever, if I refer to the Queen meaning a specific Queen of England, I capitalise.

Why they think the Associated Press has anything to do with how I write my own language, I do not know.

(Nor why they think the Associated Press should be an authority on English royalty!)

[70s-child]

Why they think the Associated Press has anything to do with how I write my own language, I do not know.
(Nor why they think the Associated Press should be an authority on English royalty!)

Actually, to be fair, DSR, the AP style guide or indeed any other American style guide does not ask *you* or anyone in Britain to not capitalize royal titles. The CMS for instance makes it very clear that British royal titles should be capitalized in Britain and also Canada, and that British style guides, like the one published by the Times (this is cited in the CMS) require capping royal titles in Britain - and that is how it should be. But American style guides are for use by publications within the United States, and their logic is that since they don't cap any title (except as I mentioned the titles of nobility), royal titles are not capped either. CMS also repeatedly stresses that no offense is intended, and none is usually taken. It's just that their preference is for the "down style" i.e. lower-casing. By the way, this applies not just to the queen/Queen of England, but all monarchs, anywhere in the world.

[Katharine]

Does anyone still say "wind down the window"? Does anyone have a car where the windows still wind down manually?

Me too, I've got a VW Polo, J reg which makes it about 20 years old I think. Occasionally I give my niece a lift and she can't understand why she can't open the windows without pushing a button.

My husband's car is about 8 years old and has buttons to operate the front windows, but manual handles for the rear ones.

[Moonraker]

I can confirm that mynameisdumbnuts and mje are BOTH wrong when it comes to how I spell the Queen. When I refer to the Queen, be it our present Queen, her mother, any Queen Mary, whoever, if I refer to the Queen meaning a specific Queen of England, I capitalise.

Yet you don't capitalise MJE!

[Fatty]

Yet you don't capitalise MJE!

Capitalise? Don't forget the peri... I mean full stops. Like so: M.J.E.

[Moonraker]

I wonder if anyone, even in the 19th century, ever called it a steam pulled locomotive

Err, it's a stem-hauled locomotive!

As for wind-up windows, in spite of us having V+ and a hard-drive digital recorder, my wife still wants us to wind on through the adverts!

On grammar, I have notice that the apostrophe is still misplaced. I have recently seen has'nt, and have also noticed elsewhere (Facebook) a person who uses a comma as an apostrophe, eg hasn,t.