Why all the extra apostrophes online?
It seems there's a plague of errant apostrophes all of a sudden. I've noticed this phenomena not just here, but on other forums, blogs, and even in the comments on New York Times articles.
It used to be that people would never use apostrophes, which didn't bother me at all. It was the same kind of grammatical laziness that prevented people from capitalizing sentences and proper nouns. It saved some keystrokes. That's understandable.
Now it seems people are putting an apostrophe before every "s" that suffixes a word. Why?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but an apostrophe is used in two basic ways:
1) As a contraction. For example, "I'm" is a contraction of "I am" and "there's" is a contraction of "there is".
2) The apostrophe of possession. "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" denotes that the Silver Hammer belongs to, or is in the possession of Maxwell.
Apostrophe's are ALMOST NEVER used to signify plurality. The previous sentence makes me grit my teeth in anger. Some exceptions to this rule:
Plurals of symbols and single characters. For example, if I want to describe the number of i's in this sentence.
This also applies to numbers. For example, if I want to reminisce about the 80's. In this case I wouldn't bother with an apostrophe ("80s" looks fine to me), though I believe the contracted " '80s" is considered more formal, and I don't think I've ever seen " '80's", but it's probably acceptable too.
There is the curious case of "it's", which needs to be memorized. "it's" means "it is" always. The possessive of "it" is just "its". No apostrophe. The plural of "it" is also "its". "its' " is the plural possessive of "it". That one I understand why people get mixed up. It's tough!
Finally, the apostrophe can be used at the end of a plural noun, or a noun that ends with "s", to denote possession. Another "s" at the end isn't necessary.
Now make sure your words' apostrophes are used correctly, or don't use them at all.
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James Nicholl
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Written September 14 2009 , Tags: apostrophe, grammar nazi
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Thanks...but I think they should be banned (in 99% of cases), as part of a language simplification similar to that carried out in Germany recently.
The apostrophe holocaust?
hehehaaaa...um, yep!
sometimes i wonder if apostrophes and many other English nuances were just invented so posh/educated people can mock those less fortunate.  by the way, being a resonably educated (and SUPER POSH) pair, my girlfriend and I (oof! my grandma would be proud of that sentence structure) were debating only the other day whether apostrophes could be used to replace more than one letter in a contraction...? as you are clearly the God of that magical character, maybe you could let us know? our conclusion was probably not...but I wasn't sure...........laaaaa!
I'll check Wikipedia and let you know. ;)
cool...grammar is dying.
esp on the internet. i think we're finally getting to the point where we realize that conveying the thought is more important than the rules of HOW it's conveyed. when all you're saying is ROFFLES does it really matter if you accidentally say ROFFLE'S? dkarma said: "grammar is dying. esp on the internet. i think we're finally getting to the point where we realize that conveying the thought is more important than the rules of HOW it's conveyed." I don't think we'll ever get to that point. You can sit in front of your keyboard and have a perfect understanding of the meaning of life, the universe and everything, but if you don't know how to convey that to the person on the other node of the network then your thoughts are meaningless to everyone but yourself. All art is based on this principle: not just the thought, but the conveyance, no matter how subtle, or what the medium. More elaborate rules allow more subtle meanings to be conveyed. I don't like extra apostrophe's because they blur the meaning behind the words. When I read the previous sentence for the first time I automatically unravel "I don't like extra apostrophe's because..." as "I don't like extra apostrophe is because..." then I think to myself, that doesn't make any sense! Then I have to rethink the sentence's actual meaning, realizing eventually that the apostrophe is unnecessary. An unnecessary apostrophe is a hindrance to your audience. And what's with all those pussies and their semicolons? Sack up and use a real colon, like a man. Don't even get me started on people who use single quotes (') instead of double (") quotes. How are we supposed to know someone's talking unless it's loudly marked with the double-apostrophe and it's written in ALL CAPS. Real men write like they speak IN ALL YELLING.
eyesnine said: " dkarma said: "grammar is dying. esp on the internet. i think we're finally getting to the point where we realize that conveying the thought is more important than the rules of HOW it's conveyed." I don't think we'll ever get to that point. You can sit in front of your keyboard and have a perfect understanding of the meaning of life, the universe and everything, but if you don't know how to convey that to the person on the other node of the network then your thoughts are meaningless to everyone but yourself. All art is based on this principle: not just the thought, but the conveyance, no matter how subtle, or what the medium. More elaborate rules allow more subtle meanings to be conveyed. I don't like extra apostrophe's because they blur the meaning behind the words. When I read the previous sentence for the first time I automatically unravel "I don't like extra apostrophe's because..." as "I don't like extra apostrophe is because..." then I think to myself, that doesn't make any sense! Then I have to rethink the sentence's actual meaning, realizing eventually that the apostrophe is unnecessary. An unnecessary apostrophe is a hindrance to your audience." And exactly how many periods or apostrophes are required to convey the meaning of life? None and that's my point. Punctuation is pointless as long as you get the concept across. I see them used to replace quotes, often on geek sites, so I have to wonder how much that has to do with SQL syntax.
Zappa's poodle has one more usage for you: "The crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe." It's from a song of his called Stinkfoot. I read somewhere this was a reference to Gaine's brand dog biscuits, but somehow it evolved into this dumb new meaningless thing.
Recent blogs: Re-amping Mic, How do you do it?
This blog needs to be circulated across the internet at large...! In Australia at least it's known as the shopkeepers' apostrophe - tomato's, banana's, apple's 99c kg etc...
yeah I think 80s is fine, too. No need for punctuation here. The one that bugs me most is the increasing numbers of people who don't know the difference between there, their, they're... I mean, I hate to sound like a snob but if you are going to use the English language fucking well learn the basics - especially if you are a native speaker.... I heartily heart this blog The Sun says YES to 80's : link
A good yardstick that... sAMsKi said: "by the way, being a reAsonably educated (and SUPER POSH) pair, my girlfriend and I (oof! my grandma would be proud of that sentence structure) were debating only the other day whether apostrophes could be used to replace more than one letter in a contraction...? as you are clearly the God of that magical character, maybe you could let us know? our conclusion was probably not...but I wasn't sure...........laaaaa!" yes it can can't = can not. the ' replaces an 'n' and an 'o' the grammar fuxes i hate is: 'better THEN something' and 'i COULD care less'- well the second one isnt a grammar mistake but its the reverse meaning of what theyre trying to say but in general am small bovered aren i lids a stack its been no yebs since i had to write something properly WTF.... Keith Floyd died?!?! Page 1 | 2
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