Apostrophes - Do they exist?

My wife's a technical author so it has been drummed into me!
On the way to work every day I see a classic:

"ROY MOTOR'S"

Painful.

Tony

I love (and you see it all the time here) 'your' when they mean 'you're'.

quote:

Originally posted by joe90:
And does anyone on the Forum actually know how to use one?

Yes thanks.

quote:

Apostrophes - Do they exist?

Yes people from the planet Apostro.

Dear departed Frank knew all about it:-




Banana's!

John.

Tony

The evidence seems to be that too many apostrophes are being used.

At the end of the day the language will change and as long as the meaning is understood what the hell does it matter.
Before cries of "erosion of the language" "a step towards anarchy" etc etc.
Why not start a campaign to bring back, thou, woudst, thy etc etc.
Shakespear has gone, Text has arrived like it or not.

I agree to an extent, and signs are permitted to miss them out. Adding them incorrectly makes me laugh. Sometimes though, their incorrect use can upset the flow of reading. And that's just a pain in the arse.

Tony

Tony

Mistake! Should be

Pie's
Pasty's
Sandwich's
+
CAKE'S



regards,
mat

The Apostrophe Protection Society, based in Boston, Lincolnshire, started in 2001 and aims to preserve correct use of this much abused punctuation mark in all forms of written English. Rules concerning apostrophes in written English are simple:

1. They 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 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!

The correct use of the apostrophe is one of the most important things in life for if it perishes then civilisation itself will end and an ages of darkness will descend - some say that entire economies will implode: now where would we be if that ever 'appen'd.

quote:

Text has arrived like it or not.

I don't. At all. I hate it.

I will NOT use text. Ever.

steve

I sincerely wish that witnessing the incorrect insertion of apostrophes and the use of "your" intead of "you're" did not fill me with deep despair. Alas, it does. I know not why. I actually long to be one of those people who can shrug their shoulders and just say "meh - who cares?". I fear there is no hope for me.

On a related matter; I will never, ever write in text speak. Of that I can be sure.

quote:

At the end of the day the language will change and as long as the meaning is understood what the hell does it matter.

Well, quite.

How about:

At the end of the day, language will change, and as long as the meaning is understood, what the hell does it matter?

The problem is, will the meaning be understood?

quote:

3. Apostrophes are NEVER ever used to denote plurals!

Apparently in the US, when it comes to numbers, they are!

Eg 1980's.

Out of fashion here, but in the strictest sense, correct.

Oh dear....

Could do better.

Tony

quote:

Originally posted by joe90:

quote:

3. Apostrophes are NEVER ever used to denote plurals!

Apparently in the US, when it comes to numbers, they are!

Eg 1980's.

Out of fashion here, but in the strictest sense, correct.

Joe

The time period between 1980 and 1989 is not plural. It is a single decade.

It is acceptable to use 1980’s in the term 1980’s fashion.

I.E. Fashion that belongs to the single decade.


Hope this clarifies things

My dad told me the FUNEX joke when i was about 5, a lot earlier than the 2 Ronnies version.

Very clever joe feel superior now?
Not if you couldn't understand what I wrote of course.

I think it does matter in that it is a guide to the educational level of the writer - assuming they 're not pissed, as I am now.

If I start to read a technical piece, or an opinion, larded with grammatical errors, I am inclined to disregard the content or evidential base as unreliable.

Am I alone in this?

Fraser

Thanks chaps.

I feel better about my English ( aka Engrish) writing skills as even many natives make common errors.

quote:

I think that Julian is on a wind up, there was no free CD but you can purchase Naim Label CD's on our E Store

Pop Quiz!

What's wrong with the above?

quote:

What's wrong with the above?

I think it should read"...you can purchase Naim Label CDs through our E Store"

But then, my English never was very good, so please don't take my word for it!.

Whilst not being very good at English, I nevertheless try to ensure that what I write can ONLY be assigned by others, the meaning that I intended. Unless, of course, my intention was pure irony.

Cheers

Don