• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Graphic Violence

design | build | publish

  • Home
  • Portfolio
  • Get in touch

Watch your language quiz

8 October 2020

Which of these albums is Top Of The Apostrophes?

Apostrophe failures

Please select 2 correct answers

Do these hits belong to the eighties or is there something missing?
Show hint
Correct! Wrong!

Apostrophes mark possession or omission. The moniker the 'eighties' is descriptive of the tracks, not the owner. Dave owns these albums, so they are Dave's 1980s hits record collection. What complicates this is that 80s is an abbreviation of 1980s, so an apostrophe is needed to mark the missing '19', thus; Grestest Hits Of The '80s is correct. Equally, though, 'the eighties' in common parlance clearly denotes the decade in question and so we do not need to indicate it is a contraction, hence Greatest Hits Of The 80s is legit too.

You ask a colleague for their impartial opinion but they don't care. What would best describe their engagement?

Uninterested or disinterested?
Does it matter what you think when Dirty Harry asks you if you feel lucky, punk?
Show hint
Correct! Wrong!

There is a subtle but important difference here; 'disinterested' means to have no vested interest, to be unbiased. 'Uninterested' just means to not give a toss – and it is quite possible to be both. A disinterested opinion is, generally, rather more useful than an uninterested one.

So many websites, so many are wrong. Which of these guides is right?

DOs and DON'Ts FAIL
Mark just the contractions
Show hint
Correct! Wrong!

This is probably the most common fail in business communications and Dos and Don'ts looks odd if you don't know how to use apostrophes, but there can be no argument. At Graphic Violence, we use capitalisation to make these terms look 'right' to the untrained eye but also to be correct; read the DOs and DON'Ts in our FAQs.

What exactly does the Human Resource department do?

What's the point of Human Resources?
You either know this one or you guess...
Show hint
Correct! Wrong!

The principle of personnel is very different from the principal of personal. Principle and principal are tricky as they are true homonyms. With 'ple' it describes a fundamental truth or foundation for a belief system or a broadly applied protocol. With 'pal' we're talking about the first and most important item and so the most important function of HR is it principal function. With personal and personnel, careful enunciation will help you get the right word.

Watch your language quiz
FAIL!
Is English your native language? Probably, because anyone who's learned it as a second one would score better than this. Back to school for you.
NOT GOOD
Be honest, was that one you got right a guess?
Serviceable
You need your spellchecker set to 'vigilant' and your copy needs to be proof-read by someone who scored more on this.
PASS
Well done but don't break out the champagne because these questions are really quite simple. Anyone using English in business communications should be able to complete this test easily, in a couple of minutes and without the need for Google or a spellchecker.

Reader Interactions

Next post:
Previous Post:

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Have a poke around

Recent Posts

  • Using ZOOM is a calculated security risk
  • Is your password rubb!$h?
  • ZOOM is the weakest link
  • How to think like an artist
  • Finding your type online: using magazine typography in websites
  • Photoshop: leave no trace
  • Keep your bulk email out of the SPAM box
  • Always judge a book by its cover
  • Take that look off your Facebook
  • Watch your language!

Copyright © 2022 · Graphic Violence

Terms and Conditions