During the 17th and 18th Centuries , apostrophes began to be used to indicate the genitive possessive role of a noun. But it clearly took some time for the apostrophe to take hold.
Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were among the many authors inconsistent in their apostrophe use. And there was confusion or disagreement from the very early days of its deployment — that has not entirely cleared up five centuries later. When considering how apostrophe use has changed over time, we should bear in mind that "we don't pronounce words the same way we did in Chaucer's time, we don't make verbs the same way we did in Shakespeare's time," she says.
Jane Austen is among the many historic authors who were inconsistent in how they used the apostrophe Credit: Alamy. There are, of course, multitudes who survive perfectly well without knowing how to use apostrophes, but Matthews believes that while there are still prospective employers "who will throw a job application in the bin if the apostrophes are wrong," we need to continue teaching children how to use them correctly.
Hundreds of years ago, they were considered perfectly acceptable: highly educated merchants and nobles used them as the norm. Over time, this changed and, MacKenzie says: "the community of English speakers decided that it was no longer a sophisticated or intelligent way of speaking. Of all the aspects of grammar and punctuation taught in schools, apostrophes seem to pose one of the biggest challenges, as evidenced by everything from apparent errors in texts and emails to signage on the street.
Why do people struggle with the apostrophe in particular? Matthews describes it as "a difficult mark" because it has two uses. Apostrophes pose one of the biggest grammatical challenges to people, as evidenced by everything from apparent errors in texts and emails to signage on the street Credit: Alamy. Apostrophes' silence is a big part of their trickiness, agrees MacKenzie.
For example, if someone says 'the king's crown'. Inconsistency is another reason we find apostrophes challenging. It really should!
For MacKenzie, rather than pondering whether we, as a society, should be sticklers for maintaining the rules around apostrophes, the question is more: "should we adhere to the arbitrary standards that have been set down now? Even within what is generally considered to be the 'correct' usage of apostrophes, there can be some variation according to personal preference. For example, 'James' car is red' is correct, but so is 'James's car is red'. There is some debate and ambiguity over whether, if the possessor is a singular noun that happens to end in an -s, an apostrophe should simply be added to the end, or whether an apostrophe and an additional 's' is needed.
The University of Bristol's English department style guide recommends that proper nouns that end in -s form their possessive form by adding — 's. Whereas the BBC Style Guide advises that for names, the possessive 's should be used whenever possible, but that you also should be guided by how the last syllable of the name is pronounced, and omit the extra s in certain cases.
It appears that both approaches are acceptable, and that there is a degree of personal preference. Probably the best rule of thumbs is, whichever you decide to use, make sure you are consistent.
Or with numbers, when referring to a particular decade, some would write 'the s' and others 'the 's'. No wonder it can get confusing for someone who might not have been taught the minutiae. So who are the arbiters of what's right and wrong when it comes to apostrophes? In early life, they are English language teachers, following a set curriculum. Like many linguists, MacKenzie explains that she started out as a "raving prescriptivist", who was militant about punctuation rules, but in time she learned the extent to which these can serve as gate-keeping mechanisms and remove opportunities for some.
Linguists aren't grammarians, but rather study how language is used in the real world, she says. We're here to tell people what they're doing is great. Publications such as The New York Times serve to arbiter what is wrong or right when it comes to apostrophes and other grammatical usage Credit: Alamy. So does she see it as problematic, if the apostrophe is not just supposedly misused, but in its dying days?
Her response errs to the philosophical and jokingly flips the question on its head: "would I be sad to see apostrophes disappear? What is a comma? The demise of The Apostrophe Society itself - an apparent loss to grammarians everywhere - sparked a renewed defence of the punctuation mark. The Apostrophe Society reported a fold increase in demand after Richards announced its end - exceeding the server's bandwidth and effectively crashing the site, which will reopen in January "for reference and interest".
But Petelin, like Richards, is a staunch defender of the apostrophe as "the 27th letter of the alphabet", necessary for clear communication. And the apostrophe, perhaps more than any other punctuation mark, has long claimed devoted disciples, including the self-proclaimed Grammar Vigilante of Bristol.
But some grammar experts have a different perspective on a "defence of correctness" - like that taken up by Richards. But, "the apostrophe is slippery and has been its entire life in English". To Curzan, self-styled apostrophe police can have a more harmful impact than simply improving grammar. The suggestion is that "somehow you're not smart because you misplaced an apostrophe according to standard usage," Curzan says.
She adds: "If we're all honest about it - every single one of us have messed up our 'its' and our 'it's'. It's confusing. Even in the age of texting, abbreviations and emojis, young people "are paying very close attention to the details of language", Curzan says.
Punctuation in texting - a period at the end of a message or one exclamation mark versus two - carries real weight. And both experts agree that the use of the apostrophe - like all punctuation - can be tricky. Apostrophe 'ignorance' ends campaigner's efforts. Council adds apostrophe to Land's End. Apostrophe banned from Devon streets. Meet the 'Grammar Vigilante' of Bristol. What's the right age to quit maths? The people who hate other people's bad grammar.
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