Greg,
They say that there is no such thing as co-incidence, but, having just read your post . . . .
In the Times yesterday, (Monday 10th May), there was an obituary of a gentleman called John Richards, who has just passed away at the grand old age of 97, whose claim to fame was that he was the founder of the Apostrophe Protection Society. Following a career in local newspapers he founded the Society in 2001 with the stated aim of 'highlighting the misuse of this most misunderstood of punctuation marks'. He attracted worldwide interest, and received a literature award from Harvard University.
He wound up the Society two years ago, citing advancing years, and stating 'the apostrophe is dying'. A glorious British eccentric, and a life well-lived.
Mike
Yes, an odd coincidence. A shame he thought the apostrophe was dying after all his efforts. Its (!) misuse can still make a nonsense of a sentence, as can misuse of other punctuation, as Eats, Shoots and Leaves well demonstrates. And we still see the occasional post, here and elsewhere, without a single full stop or capital letter. I wonder if the writer knows how difficult it makes it for their readers.
I am all for a vibrant, evolving language but there have to be some universal rules to make text understandable and unambiguous. I really believe that correct punctuation is not an optional extra. (And yes, I understand the issue of dyslexia - my brother is dyslexic.)
Right, proof read twice. Just in case.
Greg
