posted November 09, 2004 12:10 PM         

Apostrophe Protection Society

quote:

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The Apostrophe Protection Society
23 Vauxhall Road, Boston, Lincs. PE21 0JB
United Kingdom
Email: john.richards2@virgin.net

The Apostrophe Protection Society was started in 2001 by John Richards, now its Chairman, with the specific aim of preserving the correct use of this currently much abused punctuation mark in all forms of text written in the English language.

The rules concerning the use of Apostrophes in written English are very simple:
1. They are used to 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 please note that 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!

Note: Special care must be taken over the use of your and you're as they sound the same but are used quite differently:
your is possessive as in this is your pen
you're is short for you are as in you're coming over to my house

We are aware of the way the English language is evolving during use, and do not intend any direct criticism of those who have made the mistakes above. We are just reminding all writers of English text, whether on notices or in documents of any type, of the correct usage of the apostrophe should you wish to put right mistakes you may have inadvertently made.
On our Examples page you will see pictures of real-life apostrophe abuse!
NB: Due to the receipt of huge amounts of 'spam' and virus emails, the address previously used for the submission of examples has been withdrawn. (27 August 2003)

Please place written examples of misuse of the apostrophe you have seen on our Message Board for discussion.
For general enquiries about Apostrophe Protection Society membership, please contact its Chairman by Email by clicking: john.richards2@virgin.net

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posted November 09, 2004 12:18 PM         

John Richards spent most of his working life in journalism - about three quarters of it as a reporter and the remaining quarter as a sub editor.

His task in the latter job was to prepare reporters' copy for insertion into the paper. This involved tightening the story if it needed it, changing clumsy phrasing and cutting to length (each story is fitted into a page rather like a jigsaw).

An important part, however, was correcting grammatical errors and, in particular, adding, deleting or moving apostrophes. It constantly amazed him how often reporters, especially the younger ones, seemed to have no idea of the correct use of this very useful little device.

When John retired, this irritation didn't disappear but became even more obvious. Everywhere he went he saw the same mistakes over and over again until he decided that he could no longer ignore it. So he formed the Apostrophe Protection Society in the hope that he would find half a dozen like-minded people.

He takes up the story: "I didn't find half a dozen people. Instead, within a month of my plaint appearing in a national newspaper, I received over 500 letters of support, not only from all corners of the United Kingdom, but also from America, Australia, France, Sweden, Hong Kong and Canada!"

"Now, thanks to John Hale at Floating Lily Designs who has designed this web site for us, I hope that the word will spread even further."

"The little apostrophe deserves our protection. It is indeed a threatened species!"
For general enquiries about Apostrophe Protection Society membership, please contact its Chairman by Email by clicking: john.richards2@virgin.net

posted November 09, 2004 09:17 PM         

BUT(!) I was so happy to see this! I work with other students at school, helping them with reports,etc., and I see this stuff all the time. And not only there... but on PRINTED materials! The worst are those "plural apostrophe's." (I did that on purpose!)

It makes me laugh that I get so crazy over this stuff. It made my day to see that apparently I'm not the only one!

Carissa

posted November 09, 2004 09:46 PM           

You wanna know what makes me crazy?

I could care less.

It's I COULDN'T care less!
COULDN'T, COULDN'T, COULDN'T!

If you could care less, you COULD care less - that is, that which you're saying has no importance to you, HAS some little shred of importance.

ARGH!

posted November 09, 2004 10:55 PM         

Yeah, thats cool. I dont understand where the " goe's at the end of sentence's.

Like:

He said, "this is a test".

or:

He said, "this is a test."

But is the rule different from a whole setence: "This is a sentence."? Or the ? for that matter... And brackets - inside the dot or out? "{Why put brackets around me?)."?

posted November 09, 2004 11:06 PM         

My BIGGIE is good and well. People misuse those words so often... It drives me batty.

Good and well are not interchangeable!

You didn't do good on your math test. You did well.

posted November 10, 2004 05:31 AM         

really, i don't know....just contemplating.

and while many really couldn't care less about such seemingly trivial things as these, i think they're very intriguiging to pursue. grammar things dictate much of our thinking processes, and if nothing else, it's interesting to ponder -- the intricacies of language. give me a good dictionary any day!

the message board at that site is fun! any questions grammatical you have may be met with wit and flair. try it! i myself have many.

their message board does however, display ip addresses.....

but most of all, grammar never should be a hang-up....much more important to express yourself in the best way you know how, and embellish it with grammatical elan for effect, like adding color to a drawing.

hi carissa! i'll wind my way to lol...at snail's pace i'm sure....but i'll try to head that way.

posted November 10, 2004 07:55 AM         

I too find my spelling has worsened as I've got older! So strange, it was immaculate when I was younger - too much grey matter dimished in the years training for adulthood methinks!

posted November 10, 2004 09:49 AM         

i wish i were grammatically superior...my language is lacking and lazy and i often cringe at the way i say things.

i wouldn't presume to post this site about apostrophe use for edification purposes. i thought the presentation was original and charming.....thought it would be fun to share one man's clever idea of creating a fun place for a meeting of the minds over language. his apostrophe 'protection' endeavor.

posted November 10, 2004 10:18 AM         

know o fence tayken, Saffron...

but heck! sometimes just for the sake of time, I cut and miss spell words such as cuz, gonna, altho....and while it "ain't" right, my message gets on the conveyer belt....know wha ti meen?