It's Time to Get the Words Right
What's up with all the bad uses of apostrophes? I see them badly abused all the time - especially when it comes to the plural use of words. C'mon, folks, think about it!
As we all learned in grade school, a plural form of a word calls for an S, most times. Things like CDs and DVDs are just like that. They're not DVD's or CD's. What are the CDs and DVDs possessing? The apostrophe in this instance shows possessiveness, like Mike's or Jill's. If you're in a room where there are many Mikes and Jills in there, then Mikes and Jills apply.
And what about this and that? This 'n' that would be the correct way to do it. An apostrophe in this sense is used when a letter is missing - (a)n(d) - 'n'. It's also like when we see decades, like the '70s and '80s. The 70's and 80's does not apply here and is simply not correct. What's even worse is if we use the '70's and '80's. OMG
So, please, try to remember to use the correct application of apostrophes in your daily writing and communications. We see the horrible uses everyday. It's up to us wordsmiths and typographers to get this right.
What other examples have you seen out there? It would be nice to see some funny, yet sad, examples of this.
(Don't even get me started on your and you're!)
Thanks for this! I make mistakes like anyone but bad use of apostrophes drives me crazy!
I believe every day is still two words, unless you mean it is an everyday occurance, in which case it becomes a compound word because it is two words commonly used together to modify the noun occurance. If you mean it is a thing that happens each and every day, day is still a single noun all on its (no apostrophe) own.
Oh, and for future reference, the period and the comma ALWAYS go inside the quotation marks. Always.
Yours in irritation, Betty
Amen to that! And what also gets me is the indiscriminate use of the marks for feet and inches - basically just small rectangles, or close to - instead of the proper 'typographically-formed' '66' and '99' apostrophes. We see it happening everywhere, especially computer-cut vinyl signs, and really, it's just laziness on the part of the operator. Software set to foot and inches as default doesn't help either. There, my rant is done.
Other incorrect examples of incorrectly used apostrophes are with the words children, men and women.
These words are already plural, but I see them used thusly: childrens', mens' and womens'
thanks for this article. i won't do the same mistake ever again! (especially for the decades).
thank you very much for the information, I speak little English
'Round these parts (rural VA) you'll see an apostrophe just 'bout anywhere. There are taco's on menus and minnow's on signs, I could go on and on.
'Nother pet peeve: "Anyways"
I'm glad there are still grammar snobs out there like me! We are a dying breed.