Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Username

JohnSP

Member Since

January 19, 2012

Total number of comments

2

Total number of votes received

7

Bio

Latest Comments

Do’s and Don’t's

  • January 19, 2012, 1:29am

And yes, I *did* miss out that apostrophe on purpose (above)!

Do’s and Don’t's

  • January 19, 2012, 1:16am

Guys, although I appreciate everyones persistence in squashing the incorrect use of apostrophes in plurals, we should remember the actual meaning of the word "apostrophe". It is *only* there to replace missing letters.

Its use to show possession is simply a result of using a single "s" for possession instead of older constructs.

Any other use, or declared "rule", is simply based on common usage. Of course, if we allow common usage to be the justification for any new rules, we might as well just put an apostrophe onto the "s" key of all keyboards, and call it a day...