Gil Ritchie:

And YOU are equally incorrect JD - the answer is obviously  (a)

Why ???

Well flowers do colour - that is about the only thing they do - apart from supplying the odd insect with nectar.

Apostrophies are only the lazy man's (the man who is lazy) way of expressing something. But why should the English know anything about the proper use of their "grammar" - after all they only bloody invented it in the first place - and look what a botch up they made of it -

What difference does it make anyway - spelling is the real problem - is it not ? - or is that another story ? 

Oh, Gil. You usually play the antagonist so well, but this time you're way oot of yer depth.

Martin stated he was talking about a single flower. (a) would suggest flowers in the plural.

As for apostrophes being the lazy man's way of expressing things - how would you say "the lazy man's way"? Even if you said "the man who is lazy's way", there'd still be the need for an apostrophe. And if you said "the way of the man who is lazy", you need to breathe more.

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James De Vile
digitalcameramagazine.co.uk
Future Publishing

Good idea to check grammar and spelling of you're not sure- I've seen some real howlers used to describe photos. The worst are those misspelt captions where the picture has an added border or frame and the caption writ boldly beneath as part of it.

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a few mediocre pics

martin_hurton:

When writing about a single flower is it:
a) the flowers colour
b) the flower's colour
c) the flowers' colour

Without having read the other replies, my money's on "C".

martin_hurton:

The sentance I am writing goes "....during the flowers becoming [of age]"

Simplify it...:
"The colour of the flower, during its becoming..." or, "The colour of the flower, as it becomes..."

martin_hurton:

Don't ask!

Is that like "Never say never"... even though saying it makes you actually say the word you're saying you'll never say?

... right, that's it... 9-5.30, solving computer-based problems, without having an hours dinner break... my brain's just said "I QUIT!"

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Galleries: Monochrome : The best

sue allen:

Good idea to check grammar and spelling of you're not sure- I've seen some real howlers used to describe photos. The worst are those misspelt captions where the picture has an added border or frame and the caption writ boldly beneath as part of it.

Thanks Sue I've uploaded the image to the POTY comp so wanted to get the caption correct.  I'm not into the arty stuff myself but wanted a short way of getting my thoughts behind the image across.

The answer was B - sorry Dave and Gil.   As JD pointed out, I was referring to a single flower .  Guess this won't stop the discussion going on and on though! 

Perhaps I should have worded it differently but I wanted it to end with the reader wondering, or open for interpretation without further explanation.  I thought it worked anyway

 

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Going off theme for a moment, and including an apostrophe:

How important do you think a title is? Almost everyone gives their images titles, me included. Should a picture not be able to stand alone?

I have a friend who is adept at finding the right words for a title to his pictures, but the pictures are cr*p, and he will admit it. But he says people will say of him in the future, "He couldn't take a picture to save his life, but his titles were something else".

 

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FACES,STREET,PROTEST & CANDID
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ABERS:

Going off theme for a moment, and including an apostrophe:

How important do you think a title is? Almost everyone gives their images titles, me included. Should a picture not be able to stand alone?

I have a friend who is adept at finding the right words for a title to his pictures, but the pictures are cr*p, and he will admit it. But he says people will say of him in the future, "He couldn't take a picture to save his life, but his titles were something else".

 

I used to title my photos, when I first started out. Now I mainly upload batches of shots from outings/trips abroad etc, so have neither the time or desire to give them each a title...

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James De Vile
digitalcameramagazine.co.uk
Future Publishing

Martin... Just post the bloody picture in black and white. Then nobody needs to worry what flippin' colour the flower is!

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Si
DCM
spiritflier.com
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BPITW x 4

martin_hurton:

The answer was B - sorry Dave and Gil.   As JD pointed out, I was referring to a single flower .

Ah well. I know I spit out grammatical errors, so I'm not going to kick and stomp about it.

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Galleries: Monochrome : The best

Good start, class.

Now, what about the second instance of "flower"

"....during the flowers becoming [of age]"

I think this would be the same as the first.

If singular:

The flower's colour during the flower's becoming [of age]"

If plural:

The flowers' colour during the flowers' becoming [of age]

Not very well structured. I'd also change it to 'coming of age' rather than becoming.

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Chris Seary

My gallery

My Blog

Back to your original query Martin - it's 'coming of age' not 'becoming of age'. And 'flower's' is right in this context.

P.S. There's only one 'e' in lens (not relevant to this post but others you've made). Sorry - I try very hard not to make a thing about spelling and grammar but you did ask.

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My DCM Gallery

It looks to me like we are all in detention tomorrow lunchtime together then, as far as I can tell, not one person in this thread has ended their last sentence with the word "innit"

English is a minefield where grammar is involved. Most spellings depend on usage, so the more it is used even if wrong, the more correct it becomes.

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SK
The Best Photographer in the world 4th November - 5th November 2006 & 17th-18 November 2007
Oldboy’s Gallery

Answer's "b": the flower's colour, unless your from the other side of the pond, in which case it's "the flower's color".

If you want to avoid such circumstances in the future, just turn it around and use a preposition, "The colour of the flower".

As for the English inventing grammar, Gill, I believe you'll have to trace that one further back into the depths of history. The Italians were quite fond of the odd bit of punctuation in their latin.

"St James's Street" is usually incorrect, as the street doesn't belong to St James. In this instance it should be "St. James Street." However, had he actually been in possession of the street, then it would indeed be "St. James's Street", but "St. James' Street" is also considered acceptable in certain quarters.

One of the greatest beauties of the English language is that it's owned by the people, the words and grammar are dictated by common usage. There is not officious institute that dictates the correct usage. New words are added to the English dictionary after they've been in use, not dictated by an official body, c.f. the Institut Francais, when they condescend to permit the new words.

H.

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OldBoy:

English is a minefield where grammar is involved. Most spellings depend on usage, so the more it is used even if wrong, the more correct it becomes.

So we just perpetuate sloppiness!

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ABERS:

......So we just perpetuate sloppiness!

Seemingly so, I remember telling my children not to start a sentence with ".And" only to be told by their English teacher that this is now acceptable to the examination boards in England. And that by telling them not to do it I was actually holding back their development as individuals.

Sorry, innit.

Cheers, Peter.