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When to Use the Apostrophe...

by John Coutts
3 replies
  • OFF TOPIC
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I don't normally give spam a second glance, but something that arrived in my inbox earlier today caught my eye. I won't bore you with the full piece, but it ended up like this:

"I am giving bellow the link, please click the link & get free registration and start earning Thank's"

Apart from the bad spelling, and the pathetic call to action, it was "thanks" with an apostrophe "s" that made me laugh. It also made me realize that there are a lot of people who really do not understand the apostrophe at all.

Mind you, this example in a spam message is not as bad as one given in the wonderful book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, where a salesgirl in a store had a name badge prominently displayed on her uniform which read: "Glady's."

In fact, anyone wondering how to use an apostrophe properly should buy the book and read it at least twice. But then, as Lynne Truss, the author of the book, says, "If you've ... always wanted to know where to use an apostrophe, it means you never will, doesn't it? If only because it's so extremely easy to find out."

When and where to use an apostrophe isn't really all that difficult to master. We all make occasional mistake's, of course, but, and I again quote Lynne Truss, "We may curse our bad luck that it's sounds like its; who's sounds like whose; they're sounds like their (and there); there's sounds like theirs; and you're sounds like your. But if we are grown-ups who have been through full-time education, we have no excuse for muddling them up."

Thank's
#apostrophe #punctuation
  • Profile picture of the author sgoerger
    Lessons such as these are always needed, thanks! Reminds me of the other night at a party, playing a drinking game where we got to make rules...I said whenever someone says a pronoun they have to drink. No one at the table knew what I was talking about so I got to explain pronouns to all there! Most of us always need to be brushing up on this stuff so "thank's" John!
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    • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
      Originally Posted by sgoerger View Post

      Lessons such as these are always needed, thanks! Reminds me of the other night at a party, playing a drinking game where we got to make rules...I said whenever someone says a pronoun they have to drink. No one at the table knew what I was talking about so I got to explain pronouns to all there! Most of us always need to be brushing up on this stuff so "thank's" John!
      Everyone knows what a pronoun is. It's a noun that has gone from amateur status to the big time. hehehe :p
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