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Misuse of the apostrophe's    Time: 1:25    Accent: e Dictionary    Sound BrE    Explanations

Misuse of the apostrophe's

 
 
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Description

Popular English sure has a problem with apostrophes. It's getting more and more common to see the apostrophe disappear in informal writing (e.g. "Spains best wines" instead of "Spain's best wines"). But once the confusion was created, now a new fashion is coming over: using apostrophes where we shouldn't (for example, in the title of this lesson). This video warns us against this new trend.

Transcript

The apostrophe is being misused.
CORRECT
Bob’s car. The car belongs to Bob. It is Bob apostrophe S car. Ok? We all know that.
Contractions like: isn’t, and can’t, and shouldn’t, and wouldn’t, and... should’ve, and they’ll, as in "they will".
PLURALIZATION. WRONG!
Now people are pluralizing things, everything, with an apostrophe.
An apostrophe would be unacceptable for any respectable publication.
The misuse of apostrophes is rampant* throughout the Internet.
The pa... at this rate, we’re gonna be using apostrophe... we’re gonna use... every time we see an S we’re just gonna put an apostrophe there, before and after, just to make sure.
I would maintain that if you’re, if you’re, If you’re not sure about how to use an apostrophe, don’t use it. It’s perfectly acceptable to not use an apostrophe when you should’ve. Much more acceptable than it is to use an apostrophe when you should not have.

*rampant= increasing rapidly.
WTF= This acronym that we can see on the video is a rude expression of surprise meaning "what the f ***!"


Note from the webmaster: Well, it is true than not using the apostrophe when you should is much more acceptable than using it when you shouldn’t, but that doesn’t make it acceptable. You must use the apostrophe when and only when you have to, at least in formal writing.


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Explanations

Read more about the apostrophe misuse here: The apostrophe catastrophe.
To learn how to use the apostrophe correctly check this page: Use of the apostrophe in English.

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