My question seems to have made things (no apostrophe required)! It has nothing to do with plurals. It has to do with possession or ownerships(as in Peter's book )etc. or where there is a letter missing ( as in "it's" -instead of "it is" but NOT in " the dog lost its toy"(don't me why!) and most definately not for quotation marks which look like this " ". I don't (do not) think text speak is anything to do with it because I text and understand it's (it is)different. An apostrophe can change the meaning of things and how can it be "lazy"to put an apostophe in where there shouldn't be one? Like the menus: chip's, pea's...the chip's what? You are insinutatin that the chip owns something. I'd I had better give in as I seem to be in the minority ..There must be someone out there who's had English grammar lessons!
2007-12-01 19:03:20 · 7 answers · asked by Nip 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
I don't know anymore what to put, even doing spell checker doesn't help. So never actually know whether i have got it right. My education was some time ago now and somewhat limited, so maybe other people have the same problem.
2007-12-01 19:08:21 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
For those of you who want to be comforted here please read the book "Eats, Shoots and Leaves", a humorous look at people's (!) punctuation mistakes in English. It will warm your hearts to discover it was a bestseller in the UK. Even if people don't know the rules, it seems they would like to...
PS One of my pet hates is the use of an acute accent ´ or worse still a grave one ` rather than a proper apostrophe '.
2007-12-03 09:08:37 · answer #2 · answered by Claire C 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Put one anywhere you like. If it doesn't belong there people will think it is a Typo and forgive you.
I used to be able to punctuate pretty good, but now by reading
all kinds of mistakes, I find myself copying the mistakes as if that is the proper way. There are so many glaring mistakes that I dont pay any attention to them as long as I can get the
intended meaning.
2007-12-01 19:17:42 · answer #3 · answered by Answers 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've had grammar lessons ... and I know what you mean. A lot of people mix up "lose" and "loose" on this site, for example. And very few people know the difference between "its" and "it's". Don't give in!
2007-12-01 19:13:48 · answer #4 · answered by Orla C 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
LOL Don't you think that a lot of this abbreviated speech is down to the text culture though? I specially hate seeing handwritten signs, such as restaurants, which are incorrect!
2007-12-01 19:07:27 · answer #5 · answered by Sal*UK 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, we're (not were) called 'pedantic' if we try to get it right. Apostrophies can alter the meaning and are needed. For example - "There was no food so I ate the cats (cat's). I guess it will go full circle and our children's children will be taught they are essential again. DB
2007-12-01 22:32:02 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm with you all the way on this! It drives me nuts that grammar is fast disappearing. Well said (and I bet half of them still don't get it).
2007-12-01 19:38:29 · answer #7 · answered by sam h 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋