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A noun that is formed from a verb and which describes an action. In English it ends in -ing, eg 'the baking of bread' and 'Smoking damages your health'.

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Open till midnight

Miscellaneous

Posted by Gez on 25th October, 2007

Open till midnight, originally uploaded by scriptingnews.

This really bugs me. Can everyone please read this next sentence carefully.

A TILL IS FOR KEEPING MONEY IN AND UNTIL IS SPELT WITH ONE ‘L’.
(see update below)

So unless these banners are advertising the fact that a till will be open at midnight (Rob me! Rob me!), they should read, “open ’til 12 midnight”.

Credit to Dave Winer for spotting this and twittering about it.

**UPDATE**
I’m wrong (again). Till, rather than being a misspelled abbreviation, actually pre-dates until. Please know that I am suitably embarrassed. I considered taking this post down but I think it should stand here as a warning to other rash, ignorant bloggers too lazy to research their posts.

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3 Comments »

1. Webster’s Collegiate says “till” means “until,” and Chicago Manual of Style says, “This is a perfectly good preposition and conjunction…It is not a contraction of “until” and should not be written “’til.”

   Comment by Anonymous — 25th October, 2007 @ 9:25 pm

2. I do think you should know that you’re mistaken on this one. “Till” is a longstanding conjunction and preposition with a life of its own. It’s also older than “until” and is not a misspelled abbreviation of “until.” So, it’s perfectly acceptable to use, although, because of mistaken ideas about its validity, it’s probably best avoided where one has a point to make that might be lost in a usage kerfluffle.

   Comment by Grant Barrett — 25th October, 2007 @ 9:26 pm

3. You’re both right, a bit of research on my part wouldn’t go amiss in future. My (belated) investigation leads me to believe that till is old English and I can’t help but think it would have gone the way of thou if not for its similarity to ’til. Know that I am suitably embarrassed. I considered taking the post down but think it should stand here as a warning to other rash, ignorant bloggers too lazy to research their posts.

   Comment by Gez — 25th October, 2007 @ 10:59 pm

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