This addendum to my previous blog entry on apostrophes is dedicated to the graphic designer friend of mine who recently posted a cry for help on Facebook, asking which was correct: 100′s or 100s.
Naturally, her writer friends told her to ditch the apostrophe, which she did. Sorry to distress any literate people out there, but I have to inform you that she has since revealed that she was told to put them all back in. (more…)
Having worked with more than my share of tiresome subs who clearly quite enjoy getting their knickers in a twist about other people’s apostrophe crimes, I don’t want to get too snarky about the rights and wrongs of this important little punctuation mark.
After all, you can’t blame people for not knowing how to punctuate if they’ve never been taught how to do it. (I tend to agree with the journalism teacher who once told me she could tell a student’s age from their punctuation. Few people under forty have a clue, because they had the misfortune to go to school after it was decided that grammar was too elitist to teach).
But if you care about your business you need to know that you will be judged if you get it wrong. (more…)
In the comments to a previous post, reader katypea asks the following:
“St. Thomas’ Hospital” (as per the directional signage around Waterloo) or “St. Thomas’s Hospital” (as per my sheer editorial common sense). Please tell me i won the arguement with The Boyfriend last night…?
It’s an apostrophe question many people struggle with, so I thought my answer warranted a post of its own. (more…)
Thanks to reader Blake Evans for alerting me to this story about Birmingham City Council banning the apostrophe in its road signs.
A tad worrying that the head of the city’s transport scrutiny committee, Councillor Martin Mullaney, seems to think that a basic grasp of the apostrophe is an advanced level skill.
Don’t know what the schools are like in Birmingham, Martin, but I had mastered it before the age of ten.
Note to the The National Literacy Trust: when you’re bewailing the poor grammar and punctuation skills of the UK population, do try and get it right. (more…)
This, from a full-page ad for Hill & Knowlton, who describe themselves as “a leading international communications consultancy”. I spotted it in the “Thought Leader Series” supplement, which came with a recent issue of “PR Week”: (more…)
Pity the poor apostrophe. Whenever he threatens to make an appearance you find yourself coming over all nervous. It’s nothing personal – you just can’t help feeling a little intimidated around a character so hard to comprehend. In fact, that little chap with the scarily (more…)
