Lauren, a copywriter from Vancouver, sent in a proposal for a 12-step program for apostrophe abusers:
12-step programme: stop killing the apostrophe
A frantic, last-ditch attempt to right the world’s worst grammatical ill with enforced therapy.
She even created an instructional cartoon, à la Bob the Angry Flower:
#1 by Dana on April 9, 2009 - 11:17 pm
I am so posting that all over my office…and passing it out as flyers…and mailing it (anonymously of course) to all the businesses in the area…
#2 by Kait on April 13, 2009 - 4:30 pm
This reminds me of a pet peeve that I saw today on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air: when you want to show possession and the person’s last name ends in S, the apostrophe goes AFTER the S. For example, it’s “Ashley Banks’ (or Banks’s),” not “Ashley Bank’s.”
#3 by Alma on May 9, 2009 - 11:27 pm
I do very much like this sign. However, I was taught the numbers and abbreviations such as CD’s required an apostrophe. Now I have to ask my English teacher.
#4 by Anonymous on June 11, 2009 - 7:30 pm
And please don't forget that
who's is a contraction of who is
whose is a possessive (showing ownership)
it's is contraction of it is
its is a possessive (showing ownership)
#5 by abb3w on June 14, 2010 - 3:10 am
Alas, use in contractions was only alluded to by the example.
#6 by Professor NS on October 7, 2011 - 4:46 pm
Please don’t forget one other VERY important “don’t”: Personal pronouns, such as its, hers, yours, and theirs DO NOT take an apostrophe. “It’s” means only “It is.”