Laguage - apostrophe (contd...)

Answers for the situations posted last week are given below.

Correct usage is in Black. Incorrect usage is in Red.

In some cases, both options given my be correct.

Please review and post a comment in case you disagree with any.

Boy’s hats	Boys’ hats
Childrens’ playground	Children’s playground
Their’s property	Their property
Scissor’s blades	Scissors’ blades
Bob’s paan shop	Bobs’ paan shop
Food at it’s best	Food at its best
Member’s entrance	Members’ entrance
It’s your turn	Its your turn
Manager’s only wish	Managers only wish
Manager’s only concern	Managers only concern

Language - apostrophe

Though language is a big, wide field in itself and one can spend a lifetime studying a particular language, there are some common issues that can be addressed selectively and quickly.

One such area is use of apostrophe in written communication. Incorrect use of apostrophes can change the entire meaing of a phrase.

I invite you to do a small exercise.

Identify the correct usage of apostrophe from each of the pairs given below:


<><> <><> <><>

Boy’s hats	Boys’ hats
Childrens’ playground	Children’s playground
Their’s property	Their property
Scissor’s blades	Scissors’ blades
Bob’s paan shop	Bobs’ paan shop
Food at it’s best	Food at its best
Member’s entrance	Members’ entrance
It’s your turn	Its your turn
Manager’s only wish	Managers only wish
Manager’s only concern	Managers only concern

Answers in the next post.

Comparing contribution on charts....2

Continuing from the situation presented in the Post of the same title on 26th April, the question asked was:

"if I want to know is how the composition of my portfolio has changed over the priod tracked, i.e. if I had allocated a certain percentge of my investments to each of the three shares on 1st January, 2011, based on my risk perception and judgment, do the values of the three shares held reflect an altered situaion on 1st January, 2012?"
A Stacked Bar Graph was presented as an option and a question asked :

"Is there a better way of showing this movement?"
In an effort to answer that question, we present the same data in the form of another graph; this time a Pie Chart.

The position on 1st January, 2011:

The position on1st December, 2011:

A quick glance at the two charts above is adequate to make out (at least to me) that proportion of holdings in Unitech has reduced and that in Tata Motors has increased in this 11-month period, ITC remaining relatively unchanged. Or, looked at another way, Tata Motors now contributes more to my assets in December 2011 than it did in January 2011, and Unitech lower, despite me not having made any transactions during this period.

So, as a decision trigger, if I still need to allocate my funds in the same proportion as on 1st January, 2011, I may need to buy some Unitech and sell some Tata Motors shares.

Hence, to me this look like a better way of presenting this data.

Do you agree?

Gunshot email

This is an email written by a Manager to the Business Head. In the organisation structure, the Manager reports to a Senior Manager, who reports to a Deputy General Manager, who reports to the Business Head. Hence, an email written to a person three levels above in the hierarchy.

Quote

Hi

Below mentioned is the headset that has to be procured for my TL's, they need this headset to listen to recorded calls

MODEL        Price per piece           headset Required        Total cost

Logitech      Rs. 950/- plus taxes    3 nos                           2850/-

Kindly approve the same.

Many Thanks

AWL

Unquote

Ignoring the grammatical issues in the email, what do you think will be done with this email and its writer :

• It will be circulated across the organisation as an example of a great email
• It will be printed and hung at the entrance to show visitors the great quality of emails written by employees ?
• Its writer will be recommended for the Nobel Prize in Literature
• Its writer will be requested by the Business Head to swap roles with him
• None of the above

Ignoring the grammatical issues in the email, what do you think about the construction of the mail,  the message it conveys and possible responses :

• The Business Head will drop everything else and read this mail over and over again
• The Business Head will pinch himself to check if he is asleep or awake
• The Business Head will order a year's supplies of the requested items
• The Business Head will burst into tears at the high level of respect shown in the email
• None of the above

Why ?
How would you write it ?