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:
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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…
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.”
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.
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)
Alas, use in contractions was only alluded to by the example.
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.”