Stop the abuse!

[CharlesD]

There is widespread abuse going on and it must stop. What is being abused? The apostrophe. This poor little punctuation mark has been abused more than any other, always being put in places it doesn't belong. Stopping the abuse really isn't that hard either. Here are three simple ways you can do your part.

1. The apostrophe doesn't make things plural. More than one apple is apples, not apple's. I have several DVDs at home, not DVD's.

2. If something is a plural and you need to make it possessive, the apostrophe is quite adequate for the job without an additional s thrown in. I have seen the Jones' new car, not the Jones's new car.

3. Know which words are contractions and which ones aren't. It's appropriate to put the apostrophe in its right place.

Now how hard is that? Three simple steps to stop the abuse of the apostrophe. We all have to do our part.

 

[arrbsthw]

ok, so were you an English teacher in another life? *lol*
It's Christmas.. give us a break.

 

[theoldprof]

A neighbor was telling me about a school administrator who sent out a memo and used "you're" when it should have been "your". This guy might have been and English teacher in an earlier life, too. There is a car dealer in Indy who shouts at me that he has "hunnerds" of cars in stock. You would think that he would learn to pronounce the word "hundreds".