Author Topic: Correct Grammer (Sick) Question  (Read 1790 times)

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Offline Scunner

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Correct Grammer (Sick) Question
« on: November 21, 2011, 16:28:54 PM »
What would be more correct in the tag line above - till or 'til?

(One for Uncle Colwyn perhaps :D )



Offline tinkerman

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Correct Grammer (Sick) Question
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2011, 16:39:31 PM »
until

Offline Colwyn

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Correct Grammer (Sick) Question
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2011, 16:46:34 PM »
I have always used till. My dictionary says that the terms till and until (as meant here) are interchangeable; each is a word in its own right. Thus there is no need to treat the shorter word as an abbreviation of the longer and hence no need to spell it 'til.

P.S. Don't let Tykes tell you that the word should by "while"; this only applies in the culturally deprived regions of Yorkshire.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2011, 17:00:21 PM by Colwyn »

Offline kayakebab

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Correct Grammer (Sick) Question
« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2011, 16:58:37 PM »
I would use'til but anywayits grammAr.  :)

Offline Colwyn

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« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2011, 17:04:04 PM »
That's why Scunner wrote "sick" - presumably being quite well aware that the word should have been "sic"!

Offline Scunner

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Correct Grammer (Sick) Question
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2011, 17:20:18 PM »
Maybe I am two confusing  ;)

Offline Colwyn

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« Reply #6 on: November 21, 2011, 17:39:53 PM »
And confused to.

Offline scorcher

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« Reply #7 on: November 21, 2011, 18:50:07 PM »
Never ! Oh - exept fairy liquid !

Offline scorcher

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« Reply #8 on: November 21, 2011, 18:52:20 PM »
oops - + c !

Offline stoop

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Correct Grammer (Sick) Question
« Reply #9 on: November 21, 2011, 20:24:47 PM »
They have the same meaning, thus they're interchangeable.
Here is the fully 'story':
The status of 'til versus until and till is often argued about and most style guides have something to say on the matter.
The most common belief is that till is a shortened form of until. You can see how this could have grown up, but the truth of the matter is that till is by far the older word, being recorded from about the year 800, while it took another 400 years for until to appear in the language (it's a compound of till with the archaic Old Norse und, as far as, which also survives in the archaic unto). But the first sense of till was to, as it still can be, for example, in Scots and some dialects. Though the modern sense of till in standard English is always connected with time, this only appeared about 1300.
The current position is that until is the more common of the two words and is generally considered to be slightly more formal, which is why it turns up more often in edited prose. It is also rather more likely to appear at the beginning of a sentence than is till. But till is perfectly good English and the choice of whether to use it or until is often decided by the rhythm of the sentence.
'til, has been created within the past century by people who believe that till is an abbreviation of until and want to mark it as such. It has often been said by style guides and dictionaries that it's a mistake and it arouses passion in some people. Most recent writers on language prefer to describe it as an informal version of until — it often turns up in newspapers, advertising and song lyrics, for example, and in informal set phrases like "shop 'til you drop", "It ain't over 'til it's over" or " 'Til we meet again". But to use the spelling til without the preceding apostrophe is still regarded as wrong.
Courtesy of http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-unt1.htm




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