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Apostrophes

A short rant -- why can't people correctly use apostrophes?  Heck, let's simplify: Why don't people use apostrophes AT ALL?

I understand if you sometimes flub on "its" and "it's" .... It's a difficult distinction to make.  But the difference between "were" and "we're"?  They don't even sound the same!

My guess is that this development is a confluence of a few forces: (1) Punctuation is not viewed to be important anymore, even by some teachers; (2) it takes an extra stroke to type an apostrophe on an iPhone (and several if you are using the old texting method); and (3) internationalization via the internet has made it more likely to see non-native speakers' work.

Correctly using the language is not that difficult, and the rules are not really onerous. Though we shouldn't shoot for perfection, I think caring about how we communicate might increase online civility a touch ... and heaven knows it's needed!
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Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 20, 2012 at 7:09 AM

    its just so hard to right when were in a recession. im just sew sadd.

    ReplyDelete

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