The lost art of the apostrophe
My inner ‘grammar Nazi’ always stood me in good stead in my years as a sub-editor, but one of the consequences of spending every day immersed in punctuation and syntax is that you get really irked when people break all those rules you hold dear.
One of my biggest bugbears is the misuse — or even worse, non-use — of the apostrophe (and don’t even get me started on the abuse of the comma!). OK, call me a pedant, but when I see an errant apostrophe used in a sign or the like, it really sets my teeth on edge and I want to reach for my red pen.
There’s a very good reason why we use punctuation marks such as the apostrophe, and that’s to give the written word clear meaning. The misuse of an apostrophe can dramatically alter the meaning of a sentence and convey a totally different message than the one you intend. And as amusing as the result can sometimes be, it’s just plain wrong.
If the mechanics of the apostrophe are a mystery to you, the entertaining explanation of its functions on The Oatmeal site will go a long way to helping you use it correctly — and save me a whole lot of stress!
Gail Lipscombe has worked for some of Australia's hottest tech magazines for over 10 years. In her blog, she focuses on demystifying technology, gadgets and the web for average consumers.