Use of the apostrophe

[Bayum]

I believe both are correct; you just need to be consistent in which one you use in a piece.

My pen's stationary stationery!

Indeed the example before was correct and you're correct in saying that you can have s's. Unfortunately not all words that indicate possession and end with an 's' are followed with an apostrophe 's'.

Generally if the possession belongs to a proper noun that is mentioned - as in the example above 'Thomas's funnel' that would be correct. 'The girls' school' however doesn't need a repetition of the s because it isn't a proper noun.

 

[Smudger105e]

Indeed the example before was correct and you're correct in saying that you can have s's. Unfortunately not all words that indicate possession and end with an 's' are followed with an apostrophe 's'.

Generally if the possession belongs to a proper noun that is mentioned - as in the example above 'Thomas's funnel' that would be correct. 'The girls' school' however doesn't need a repetition of the s because it isn't a proper noun.

One way I was told as a rule of thumb is to read the word out. Thomas's is pronounced Thomasez therefore two s sounds, and therefore two s's. Girls is only one s sound so it it only needs one s.

Same with commas, if you read a sentence out, see when it is feels natural to take a breath, and this is a good starting point for identifying the place to insert a comma.

 

[edwin_m]

In the example above "girls" is plural and I'm pretty sure the rule is that where a plural ends in "s" the possessive is formed just by adding an apostrophe after it. The point I was making a couple of posts back is the confusion in forming a possessive from a singular ending in "s".

Interesting point about proper nouns. "The boss's office" and "the compass's point" definitely seem to need the extra "s".

 

[Bayum]

In the example above "girls" is plural and I'm pretty sure the rule is that where a plural ends in "s" the possessive is formed just by adding an apostrophe after it. The point I was making a couple of posts back is the confusion in forming a possessive from a singular ending in "s".

Interesting point about proper nouns. "The boss's office" and "the compass's point" definitely seem to need the extra "s".

This is where the confusion lies.

I'd be tempted to say that we don't add an a after the apostrophe because they aren't proper nouns. I would leave it as boss' office, or the compasses' needle.
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However I've just been on a website citing an American way of writing, indicating that you can write boss's if you want to.

 

[Strat-tastic]

The University of Bristol has a helpful reference for points of grammar and punctuation. Here's the page devoted to the beloved apostrophee

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/page_10.htm

 

[D6975]

(Paul Merton springs to mind) believes this is a deliberate ploy by signwriters. They create the signs you ask for even if they are obviously wrong so that you will then have to pay again to have them corrected.

You remember almost correctly, it was David Mitchell on QI.
He went on about all signwriters knowing how to spell accommodation, but deliberately making signs with wording exactly as ordered unless the customer paid for a premium service.

 

[edwin_m]

You remember almost correctly, it was David Mitchell on QI.
He went on about all signwriters knowing how to spell accommodation, but deliberately making signs with wording exactly as ordered unless the customer paid for a premium service.

Some people are so sure of their own rightness that they would reject a sign where the spelling had been corrected, and insist on a new one being produced for free with the incorrect spelling as ordered.

A former boss of mine was convinced of his spellings of "tommorrow" and "brieffing" and couldn't understand why the spellchecker kept rejecting them. Eventually he added them to his spell checking dictionary.

 

[AM9]

Some people are so sure of their own rightness that they would reject a sign where the spelling had been corrected, and insist on a new one being produced for free with the incorrect spelling as ordered.

A former boss of mine was convinced of his spellings of "tommorrow" and "brieffing" and couldn't understand why the spellchecker kept rejecting them. Eventually he added them to his spell checking dictionary.

Maybe until he did that he was loosing the will to live. I sometimes feel like that with so many locals spelling their town as St Alban's.

 

[IanD]

You remember almost correctly, it was David Mitchell on QI.
He went on about all signwriters knowing how to spell accommodation, but deliberately making signs with wording exactly as ordered unless the customer paid for a premium service.

That's the one! Once one of my daughters came home with a list of words to learn and one was 'accomodation' and her teacher took some convincing of the correct spelling.

 

[table38]

How about the use of 'Z as in this spotted from the tram in Rochdale yesterday?

 

[edwin_m]

How about the use of 'Z as in this spotted from the tram in Rochdale yesterday?
[/IMG]

Full marks to Jojo'z Pizzaz for correct use of the apostrophe!

 

[Strat-tastic]

Full marks to Jojo'z Pizzaz for correct use of the apostrophe!

I think there's more than one Jojo

 

[edwin_m]

There may be two Jos. Now that doesn't look right without an apostrophe but I think it's correct!

 

[table38]

Someone reminded me about a little change of heart they had over the years on the Underground

 

[TUC]

What amazes me is where there are glaringly wrong uses of the apostrophe in professionally made signs. Surely the signwriter would point out any such errors in copy received before making the sign?

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Surely the signwriter would point out any such errors . . . .

What? Do you mean because a signwriter would always be adequately attentive to spot their own signwriter's errors, then all signwriters would, by extrapolation, spot all signwriters' errors?
And if there was a trade association for Signwriters with a code of good practice for its members, then it would probably produce Guidance for the Association of Signwriters's members.

I'm reminded of a series of large city centre banners boasting about a major tourist attraction but which ommited a very important letter from the name of the attraction. Apparently no one had noticed. Not the signwriters, not the commissioning agent, not the client, not the riggers of the sign, and not the attraction. After a few days I contacted the attraction which had been so wrongly identified, but no one would believe me - they preferred to politely suggest reasons why I could have been mistaken.

I sent them a photo.
The banners were removed.

Anyway. I don't believe that a grammar check is within the role of a signwriter. That's a job for a pedant! How many professional pedants are there currently employed in the UK?

 

[jon0844]

They're all on here so it shouldn't be hard to find out.

 

[IanD]

What amazes me is where there are glaringly wrong uses of the apostrophe in professionally made signs. Surely the signwriter would point out any such errors in copy received before making the sign?

See post 15.

 

[TUC]

Anyway. I don't believe that a grammar check is within the role of a signwriter. That's a job for a pedant! How many professional pedants are there currently employed in the UK?

When you employ a signwriter you are expecting him/her to provide work to a professional standard, including flagging up spelling and grammatical errors to the client.

That's not being a pedant. That's simply doing your job professionally.

 

[pdq]

I'm not sure the signwriter employed here had the best grasp of vocabulary either. As seen in Castleford last week.

 

[Bedpan]

I forgot to go shopping yesterday and as I had no food for my dinner, I had no alternative but to eat the cats.

Sorry, I meant to say, I forgot to go shopping yesterday and as I had no food for my dinner, I had no alternative but to eat the cat's.

 

[TUC]

I'm not sure the signwriter employed here had the best grasp of vocabulary either. As seen in Castleford last week.

A good example of an idea that was too clever for its own good. Verbally it probably sounded like a good play on words. In print however ....

 

[Mojo]

When you employ a signwriter you are expecting him/her to provide work to a professional standard, including flagging up spelling and grammatical errors to the client.

That's not being a pedant. That's simply doing your job professionally.

Surely if they don't point out any errors, then they'll get the person coming back to them when the errors are noticed, thus creating more work?

 

[jon0844]

Whatever that place was called, I wouldn't be rushing to go in and buy anything.

In another thread, people are suggesting that it doesn't matter what a new train looks like and too much money was wasted on design etc, but then you look at a shop like the above and it's pretty clear that something that looks good will be more appealing than something that doesn't.

 

[Railsigns]

A good example of an idea that was too clever for its own good. Verbally it probably sounded like a good play on words. In print however ....

I think the issue here is not so much the name of the business, where deliberately odd spelling is considered acceptable (e.g. "Kwik Fit"), but the apparent confusion between the words 'comfort' and 'confront'. Maybe someone should "comfort" the owners over this matter.

 

[IanD]

Surely if they don't point out any errors, then they'll get the person coming back to them when the errors are noticed, thus creating more work?

See posts 17 and 36.

 

[TUC]

I think the issue here is not so much the name of the business, where deliberately odd spelling is considered acceptable (e.g. "Kwik Fit"), but the apparent confusion between the words 'comfort' and 'confront'. Maybe someone should "comfort" the owners over this matter.

I hadn't noticed the 'confront'!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

A good example of an idea that was too clever for its own good. Verbally it probably sounded like a good play on words. In print however ....

Is this the same "Furniche" as that in the Milton Keynes area that markets German room unit products ?

 

[PaxVobiscum]

Or the "Furniche" in Barrow?

I'll get my coat...

 

[Emyr]

Furniche would be a punny name for suppliers of furniture meeting infrequently encountered requirements.