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Apostrophe abuse!

6K views 33 replies 24 participants last post by  shredmaster 
#1 ·
Ok, I know it's not that important and there are far more important things in the world but I have to say it.

Please don't use apostrophes in plurals! It's wrong and it hurts!

Apologies in advance for this. I know English isn't everyone's first language and I'm not attacking anyone, but apostrophes in plurals really get to me!

Guide to apostrophe use (from The Apostrophe Protection Society homepage)

The rules concerning the use of Apostrophes in written English are very simple:
1. They are used to denote a missing letter or letters, for example:
I can't instead of I cannot
I don't instead of I do not
it's instead of it is
2. They are used to denote possession, for example:
the dog's bone
the company's logo
Jones's bakery (but Joneses' bakery if owned by more than one Jones)

... but please note that the possessive form of it does not take an apostrophe any more than ours, yours or hers do.
the bone is in its mouth
... however, if there are two or more dogs, companies or Joneses in our example, the apostrophe comes after the 's':
the dogs' bones
the companies' logos
Joneses' bakeries
3. Apostrophes are NEVER ever used to denote plurals! Common examples of such abuse (all seen in real life!) are:
Banana's for sale which of course should read Bananas for sale
Menu's printed to order which should read Menus printed to order
MOT's at this garage which should read MOTs at this garage
1000's of bargains here! which should read 1000s of bargains here!
New CD's just in! which should read New CDs just in!
Buy your Xmas tree's here! which should read Buy your Xmas trees here!

Note: Special care must be taken over the use of your and you're as they sound the same but are used quite differently:
your is possessive as in this is your pen
you're is short for you are as in you're coming over to my house
 
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#5 ·
JJEMMER777 said:
Hex.....are you bored today....or do all the LITTLE things in life get to you? Seems to me that in a world full of BIG problems.....you could find something a little more substantial to whine about;)
Heheheh :)
I know it's a bit stupid, but you know how it is when something really small just grates on your nerves?
I think I made it even worse by reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation :lol:
 
#9 ·
rgr said:
You forgot that if "it" is possessive, it is "its" which is the exception to the rule;)

Sorry, had to say something....

Roger
There is a bit about that in there :)

but please note that the possessive form of it does not take an apostrophe any more than ours, yours or hers do.

It's probably not the best explanation there is but I just grabbed it quickly :)
 
#14 ·
Agreed, although the form I'd be more wont to use would be "demo'd" if I was using it in a semi-casual writing environment (as contractions, and especially non-standard contractions, should only be used with EXTREME caution in formal writing).

My somewhat, erm, erratic typing notwithstanding, I'm somewhat of a grammar nazi myself, although it's more internet slang (ur) or blatantly bad spellings of easy words (tripple rectifier, distortion peddle) that kill me.

-D
 
#15 ·
Bare with me, while I rant a bit. All this wining about poor spelling, it's really a mute point, and I could care less about this. Sure, alot of people could of used a spell checker, but what fun is that? Why should we tow the line, when for all intensive purposes, people still no what your talking about? Afterall, it's only a web sight. I await you're reply with baited breath.

(That was fun.)
 
#16 ·
Drew said:
My somewhat, erm, erratic typing notwithstanding, I'm somewhat of a grammar nazi myself, although it's more internet slang (ur) or blatantly bad spellings of easy words (tripple rectifier, distortion peddle) that kill me.

-D
I'm with you, Drew. It used to not bother me at all, since when posting a message board, we're just BSing. BUT, the longer I've been online, the more it bothers me. It's become apparent that many of these people are just flat out illiterate. And, it's absolutely shocking how many of them there are out there.
 
#18 ·
Algiman said:
"You're and your" and "their, there and they're" being used the wrong way really irritates me.
Sometimes, this is not the result of ignorance, but the result of muscle memory. Sometimes my fingers will just type "their" when I know I mean "they're," and I go back and re-read what I wrote, and think to myself, "I know better than that. How'd that happen?"
 
#20 ·
Ferrous Lepidoptera said:
Bare with me, while I rant a bit. All this wining about poor spelling, it's really a mute point, and I could care less about this. Sure, alot of people could of used a spell checker, but what fun is that? Why should we tow the line, when for all intensive purposes, people still no what your talking about? Afterall, it's only a web sight. I await you're reply with baited breath.

(That was fun.)
Its won thing if u du it on perpose. Its somting ls interily if u dont no wat u'r duing.
 
#22 ·
I've been meaning to pick up "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" for ages now... i must go to the bookstore! I'm pretty particular about spelling and punctuation, and that was exacerbated even more by taking years of typography in my design program... not only do the apostrophes have to be in the correct places, but they also have to be proper typographic apostrophes, and not "typewriter" apostrophes:

' vs. '
 
#24 ·
jono said:
Does it strike anyone else as strange that they they've used Xmas instead of Christmas? And what would Xmas be classed as anyway? Is it a contraction... Or just an americanism? ;)
Most likely a contraction, as the abbreviation and usage of the "X" has been around long before America came to be. The "X" in X-mas is actually the Greek letter "chi," and it's a common abbreviation for "Christ." (chi is the first letter of "Christ" in Greek.) So the next time you see "X-Mas" don't say "eks-mas", say "kye-mas." :)
 
#25 ·
While I'm not one to sit and grade posts for punctuation and grammar, some sense of order is helpful when trying to understand what someone is asking. My least favorite type of first post is when a newcomer clearly has an important question but cannot seem to find enough words to explain himself.
 
#26 ·
jem7vwh said:
My least favorite type of first post is when a newcomer clearly has an important question but cannot seem to find enough words to explain himself.
I wonder how much of this has to do with whether a person is a touch typist or not. I can imagine if I were a hunt-and-pecker I might tend to conserve keystrokes, but as a touch typist, I can let the words fly with relative ease.
 
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