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I'm talking about writing something like "There are two dog's in the park.".
I've occasionally see it on websites. I don't know if it's just me, but curiously I've seem to have noticed it more often online, whereas before I don't think I've seen this mistake before I was used to online posting/writing.
It's strange since it seems straightforward to write the plural -s, and it'd take longer to add the apostrophe make the typo.
I talked about it to my friend and he reckons perhaps the internet age has made it more common when we use abbreviations more often (like DVD's, 90's etc.) perhaps we make the mistake of slipping it in more easily. In any case, I just thought it was a odd/quirky/curious thing.
It's not just you, Stumbler. I see it all the time too, and it drives me crazy. I'm a writer, so words and their proper spellings are important to me. It's as if the kids have decided to completely reverse the rule:apostrophes are used for plurals and vice-versa. I blame the schools for it. They stopped using phonics and teaching proper English in favor of letting the kids spell as they liked because it was "more important to get the message through."
Well, it is usually just a typo but I would say that the reason you seem to see it more often these days is because you read a lot more unedited text written by inexperienced and non-professional writers. In other words, you read a lot of internet based media.
I think spelling the wrong "there" is more common (and so frickin annoying haha). It also seems like hardly anyone knows when to subtract the apostrophe in "its" when the word "it" is possessive.
It's gotten to the point where I'm beginning to see that apostrophe mistake in places where you would normally expect someone to have proofread and corrected it. Places like:
Billboards
Advertising copy
Newspapers and magazines
Professionally-published books
Television ads
The crawls or static bands you see across the TV screen during newscasts
Oh, and to CoolSocks:
Worse yet, some word-processing software (including MS Word 2010, at least on my laptop) will try to insist on making you use the WRONG version of its/it's. In fact, it's my opinion that over-reliance on spell-checking and grammar-checking software is probably the source of at least part of the overall problem addressed in this thread. When I write, I usually turn both of them off, and rely on my own eyes to spot mistakes.
The apostrophe is a fairly modern innovation; in Shakespeare's time, it was not used and whether a given form was genitive or plural had to be recognized by context.
Sometime by the 1700's the British formed the genitive by the use of his. Example: "Whose hat is this?" "That is Jack his hat." Which became eventually "That is Jack's hat."
Oddly enough, they used his regardless of gender. Example: Whose coach is that?" "That is the queen his coach." from which came "That is the queen's coach."
I was told the above by a chap who attended English public school. Take it cµm grano salis.
I'm talking about writing something like "There are two dog's in the park.".
I've occasionally see it on websites. I don't know if it's just me, but curiously I've seem to have noticed it more often online, whereas before I don't think I've seen this mistake before I was used to online posting/writing.
It's strange since it seems straightforward to write the plural -s, and it'd take longer to add the apostrophe make the typo.
I talked about it to my friend and he reckons perhaps the internet age has made it more common when we use abbreviations more often (like DVD's, 90's etc.) perhaps we make the mistake of slipping it in more easily. In any case, I just thought it was a odd/quirky/curious thing.
...I would say that the reason you seem to see it more often these days is because you read a lot more unedited text written by inexperienced and non-professional writers.
Very true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoffeeChick
It's gotten to the point where I'm beginning to see that apostrophe mistake in places where you would normally expect someone to have proofread and corrected it. Places like:
Billboards
Advertising copy
Newspapers and magazines
Professionally-published books
Television ads
The crawls or static bands you see across the TV screen during newscasts
Oh, and to CoolSocks:
Worse yet, some word-processing software (including MS Word 2010, at least on my laptop) will try to insist on making you use the WRONG version of its/it's. In fact, it's my opinion that over-reliance on spell-checking and grammar-checking software is probably the source of at least part of the overall problem addressed in this thread. When I write, I usually turn both of them off, and rely on my own eyes to spot mistakes.
The news crawls annoy me the most! These are supposed to be professionals. Where's their pride?
I definitely agree that there's too much reliance on SpellCheck. It often gives the wrong form.
Like you, I don't use the SpellCheck, because it's so often wrong. I do use it to check on extra spaces, though--something I do often since I got this new laptop. I hit the spacebar too hard 'cuz I learned to type on a manual machine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zea mays
Sometime by the 1700's the British formed the genitive by the use of his. Example: "Whose hat is this?" "That is Jack his hat." Which became eventually "That is Jack's hat."
Very interesting! I wondered about that.
I love talking about grammar & writing. I'm just weird that way.
This gets on my nerves!!! Our hospital bulletin is always saying, "Hat's off to ___!" I'm soooo tempted to write in and correct them...but I figure that thousands of people read that bulletin and either nobody else cares like I do, or the bulletin is determined to use apostrophes no matter what :/
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