A sad day for English Grammar
Excuse me if this next point sounds nit-picky, but I was an English Major at University and it really gets my goat to see the language going down the tubes through incorrect usage by a generation who can't even spell out whole words due to an overabundance of text-messaging.
(No jokes about speaking American rather than English please. We all use the SAME grammar, despite different spelling and such).
Today at work I was presented with a couple phrases to insert into a table, for use on peoples' PDAs. Two of the phrases used 20's Cassette Empty and 50's Cassette Empty.
WRONG. WRONG WRONG WRONG. The apostrophe makes the 20 and the 50 possessive. It is not to be used in this situation. Or so I correctly learned in school, which I do realise was a long time ago now.
Due to the massive misuse of apostrophes I see happenning in this country especially, if I was going to criticise and correct this point, I felt I had better come armed with proof, so I got on the web and started looking around for "Apostrophes with numbers" and such.
Much to my shock and horror, it is now accepted to use apostrophes in such situations as, through usage, they are considered "correct". Note the quotes around the word correct.
I still dispute this, especially since the person in the example below can't even spell Woolloomooloo correctly. I remember this word by thinking Sheep-Toilet-Cow-Toilet. Some of you will find this amusing. The Americans in the bunch may very well not get it though.
It's even more funny when you consider the question. Obviously the person thinks they know how to write o's with apostrophes "correctly", but they don't know how many Ls are in the word (WITHOUT an apostrophe, thank you very much!)
If we can't trust their spelling, why should we trust their grammar. But alas, this is not the only example of this on the web. It does seem, from the dozens of sites I checked, that the apostrophe is now accepted here. Bum.
You can use an apostrophe to show plurals of letters, words and numbers such as:
There are now two 9's in his phone number.
You must learn your abc's!
Too many if's and but's in this scenario ...
Did you know how many o's there are in Woolloomoolloo?
There are many differing rules of apostrophe use.
If you search the internet you will find that apostrophes with numbers is now considered optional in the USA and UK. Language changes and grows, and therefore rules may change.
I knew the day would come and here it is. It is a sad, sad day in the world of English Grammar.
(No jokes about speaking American rather than English please. We all use the SAME grammar, despite different spelling and such).
Today at work I was presented with a couple phrases to insert into a table, for use on peoples' PDAs. Two of the phrases used 20's Cassette Empty and 50's Cassette Empty.
WRONG. WRONG WRONG WRONG. The apostrophe makes the 20 and the 50 possessive. It is not to be used in this situation. Or so I correctly learned in school, which I do realise was a long time ago now.
Due to the massive misuse of apostrophes I see happenning in this country especially, if I was going to criticise and correct this point, I felt I had better come armed with proof, so I got on the web and started looking around for "Apostrophes with numbers" and such.
Much to my shock and horror, it is now accepted to use apostrophes in such situations as, through usage, they are considered "correct". Note the quotes around the word correct.
I still dispute this, especially since the person in the example below can't even spell Woolloomooloo correctly. I remember this word by thinking Sheep-Toilet-Cow-Toilet. Some of you will find this amusing. The Americans in the bunch may very well not get it though.
It's even more funny when you consider the question. Obviously the person thinks they know how to write o's with apostrophes "correctly", but they don't know how many Ls are in the word (WITHOUT an apostrophe, thank you very much!)
If we can't trust their spelling, why should we trust their grammar. But alas, this is not the only example of this on the web. It does seem, from the dozens of sites I checked, that the apostrophe is now accepted here. Bum.
You can use an apostrophe to show plurals of letters, words and numbers such as:
There are now two 9's in his phone number.
You must learn your abc's!
Too many if's and but's in this scenario ...
Did you know how many o's there are in Woolloomoolloo?
There are many differing rules of apostrophe use.
If you search the internet you will find that apostrophes with numbers is now considered optional in the USA and UK. Language changes and grows, and therefore rules may change.
I knew the day would come and here it is. It is a sad, sad day in the world of English Grammar.