Grammar/spelling question

Darklite · Feb 18, 2010

I'll include a small, edited extract from my WiP just to demonstrate my problem.

Carter reached for the cigarettes on the coffee table. “Return Jake’s keys. And apologise. Profusely. You never know, he might be willing to give things another go.”

”It was a one-night stand, Cart, "Louis sighed. "You remember those, don’t you? There are no more goes.”

Now is 'goes' here correct? Only the tense/meaning doesn’t seem right to me. Neither does gos which isn’t even a word. So is goes correct?

Cheers

alleycat · Feb 18, 2010

I believe it would be go's.

Darklite · Feb 18, 2010

I considered that, but I didn’t think an apostrophe would apply because the word isn’t in possessive form.

alleycat · Feb 18, 2010

In this case, the 's would be a plural. 's is used not only for possessives, but to make a plural of certain things, such as lowercase letters.

But . . . I could be wrong. One of the real grammar gurus will be along shortly, I'm sure.

Darklite · Feb 18, 2010

You mean like CD’s ? But it’s only CD’s if that CD belongs to someone/thing, like, for example, the CD’s case. CDs is the plural for CD, isn’t it? Ah, grammar/punctuation will i ever get the hang of it?

alleycat · Feb 18, 2010

One of the "rules" you sometimes see is to use 's to form plurals of words that aren't normally plural.

trocadero · Feb 18, 2010

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary says the plural of go is goes. The Free Online Dictionary says the same.

Darklite · Feb 18, 2010

I'm not happy putting an apostrophe in there, but 'goes' in this context doesn't seem right either.Maybe it's my dialogue that's wrong. I might just reword it. Thank for your help, though, alleycat and trocadero

alleycat · Feb 18, 2010

Well, my first thought was to reword it, but since that wasn't your question I decided not to suggest that.

Darklite · Feb 18, 2010

That's okay

my words aren't set in stone and I don't mind advice to change them if something doesn't work. I tend to write dialogue as I would speak it which doesn't always translate that well, as in this case, to the page/screen.

alleycat · Feb 18, 2010

Darklite said:
That's okay my words aren't set in stone and I don't mind advice to change them if something doesn't work. I tend to write dialogue as I would speak it which doesn't always translate that well, as in this case, to the page/screen.

The trouble is, it's so easy to do that here on the forum. Someone will ask a question, then others will suggest rewriting it, or doing it completely different. I do that myself on occasion. Sometimes it's okay to suggest a rewrite, and sometimes the person asking the question has a reason for wanting to keep it primarily the way it is. It's usually a judgment call as to whether to suggest a rewrite.

Darklite · Feb 18, 2010

True, and I know there are people out there who don't appreciate a suggestion to re-write which is fair enough as well. Fortunately, in my case rewriting is not a problem but it's good to go through the various options first. I'm not tearing my hair out over it - although I’ve done that in the past over huge chunks of wrongness in my ms.

Chase · Feb 18, 2010

Another go at it

Darklite said:
“Return Jake’s keys. And apologise. Profusely. You never know, he might be willing to give things another go.”

”It was a one-night stand, Cart, "Louis sighed. "You remember those, don’t you? There are no more goes.”

I'm not one of the grammar gurus Allycat said would be along, although I've given it lots of study over the years.

I see your problem with "goes," and agree that "go's" would cause even more confusion. What about something like:

”It was a one-night stand, Cart," Louis sighed. "You remember those, don’t you? There won't be another go.”

Darklite · Feb 18, 2010

That works

Plus it does the least damage to the dialogue. Thanks

ResearchGuy · Feb 18, 2010

Darklite said:
I'll include a small, edited extract from my WiP just to demonstrate my problem.

Carter reached for the cigarettes on the coffee table. “Return Jake’s keys. And apologise. Profusely. You never know, he might be willing to give things another go.”

”It was a one-night stand, Cart, "Louis sighed. "You remember those, don’t you? There are no more goes.”

Now is 'goes' here correct? Only the tense/meaning doesn’t seem right to me. Neither does gos which isn’t even a word. So is goes correct?

Cheers

It is really awkward. Might work if with quotation marks around goes:

". . . There are no more 'goes.'"

Else change the word to "chance":

". . . he might be willing to give it another chance. . . . There are no more chances."

Others may have better ideas.

--Ken

Chris P · Feb 18, 2010

Darklite said:
You mean like CD’s ? But it’s only CD’s if that CD belongs to someone/thing, like, for example, the CD’s case. CDs is the plural for CD, isn’t it? Ah, grammar/punctuation will i ever get the hang of it?

You are right via Chicago Manual of Style: CDs for plural, CD's for possessive.

Chase said:
”It was a one-night stand, Cart," Louis sighed. "You remember those, don’t you? There won't be another go.”

This. Changing plural to singular eliminates many problems.

Grammar/spelling question

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