A couple of quick English questions

[chrisplank]

My co-t asked me a question today: When using an acronym (for example, U.S.A.) at the end of a sentence, do you use a second period to end it, or does the period after the A complete the sentence?

Also, regarding the proper pronunciation of "The": I was reading for the class and said "THEE supermarket," and found out that they learned that you use "THEE" only when the following word begins with a vowel, and "THUH" when the next word begins with a consonant.  I've never heard that before. Anyone know anything about that?  I said I thought it was "same-same," but wasn't sure, but now that I think about it, that does sound about right...

Finally, this is a serious question, not being a grammar nazi.  I've noticed a lot of people use  "QUITE" instead of "QUIET" and I was wondering if "QUITE" is an acceptable alternative spelling in other dialects of English.  Or is it just a common typo that a lot of people mistakenly use?

[DMZ]

USA doesn't have full stops or periods in between. Other acronyms that do must have a period at the end of the acronym to complete it, even if it's in the middle of a sentence.

THEE and THUH are absolutely not the same. It is true that you use THUH in front of words that start with consonants and THEE in front of words that start with vowels. You can also use THEE when you want to emphasis "the". It's the same principle as a/an.

Quite/quiet is a typo, not a difference in dialects.

Hope that helps

[noturstar23]

My co-t asked me a question today: When using an acronym (for example, U.S.A.) at the end of a sentence, do you use a second period to end it, or does the period after the A complete the sentence?

Also, regarding the proper pronunciation of "The": I was reading for the class and said "THEE supermarket," and found out that they learned that you use "THEE" only when the following word begins with a vowel, and "THUH" when the next word begins with a consonant.  I've never heard that before. Anyone know anything about that?  I said I thought it was "same-same," but wasn't sure, but now that I think about it, that does sound about right...

Finally, this is a serious question, not being a grammar nazi.  I've noticed a lot of people use  "QUITE" instead of "QUIET" and I was wondering if "QUITE" is an acceptable alternative spelling in other dialects of English.  Or is it just a common typo that a lot of people mistakenly use?

Definitely no second period after acronyms...

I think "Thee" and "Thuh" are both fine. "Thuh" is the only one that comes naturally to me though (I'm from America)

I have also heard a lot of people misspell quiet as quite, but it is incorrect. Quiet is the opposite of loud. Quite is a synonym for very.

[SBracken]

USA doesn't have full stops or periods in between. Other acronyms that do must have a period at the end of the acronym to complete it, even if it's in the middle of a sentence.

THEE and THUH are absolutely not the same. It is true that you use THUH in front of words that start with consonants and THEE in front of words that start with vowels. You can also use THEE when you want to emphasis "the". It's the same principle as a/an.

Quite/quiet is a typo, not a difference in dialects.

Hope that helps

I completely agree- but to illustrate what DMZ is talking about with a/an:

'a' sounds like 'uh' [ʌ] for normal- I'm eating [ʌ] banana
'a' is pronounced [eɪ] as in A, B, C when something is emphasized- I'm eating [eɪ] banana.

'an' is pronounced [ən] ('taken') for normal- I'm eating [ən] apple.
'an' rhymes with 'LAN' or 'pan' [æn] when I'm emphasizing- I'm eating [æn] apple.

Sorry if I went overboard, but I do a lot of pronunciation with my classes so... O:-)