Usage of apostrophes

[hazy]

Looking around the net and in almost every forum I visit, I find widespread misuse of the apostrophe and particularly with the use of the word its. Often I see very well written forum posts by people who are obviously well educated in grammar and spelling, but the usage of the apostrophe with the word it remains a universal problem. Somehow it's not being taught properly at school, and to those who are familiar with its correct usage, it looks kind of dumb.

The easiest way to know where to use an apostrophe in this case is to remember that its is the possessive form, as in "the potency of the weed depends on its THC content", and that it's is a contraction of it is (or it has), as in "she says it's good weed". Whenever I see it's I automatically think it is. That's the easiest way to tell if the apostrophe belongs there or not.

From wikipedia:

No apostrophe is used in the following possessive pronouns and adjectives: yours, his, hers, ours, its, theirs, and whose. (Many people wrongly use it's for the possessive of it, but authorities are unanimous that it's can only be a contraction of it is or it has.)

For a full explanation of the apostrophe and its usage, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe

 

[vaporcloud]

Shit mate ... never knew an Aussie who was concerned with grammer and correct punctuation.

English was my best subject at school. I had (so they said) writing flair and have since transformed that into song writing and many poems and short stories. But my spelling and punctuation is pretty dire ... but hey thats wht proof readers and wifes are for

Nowdays with the advent of txt speak it's going to be alot harder to get the future generations to be cobcerned about and use correct punctuation. It's a dying art hazy.

btw - if you use goggle crome as your browser it has a spell and grammer checker much like Microsoft Word so any spelling or grammatic errors get that annoying underline thing to point out a possible error as you type.

This is certainly an interesting topic for a forum about weed delivery

edit: just correcting my punctuation

 

[bongoman]

Hey hazy, the The Apostrophe Protection Society is looking for members I hear

 

[Purple-Days]

slobber...where's the dots? that was funny stuff!

 

[Acolyte of Zinglon]

i think ive found a happy medium, i just dont bother with apostrophes alltogether, i type them when i feel like it otherwise its up to the reader to decipher my runon sentences and globs of randomly evolving babble

english is my absolute worst subject, not for lack of ability with creative writing, hell i can write great essays but my mind just doesnt want to let me work until the absolute last minute, its a weird sort of mental block where i can focus on anything else but when i try to force myself to sit down to write, everything goes blank and i just sort of drift off, hell ive sat and stared at the computer with nothing else to do for hours just trying to get my first sentence... and then i still cant think of anything
i had to sign up for english next semester... so im really dreading that...

 

[SpiralArchitect]

meh, yea, I don't really care. It's the interwebz, as long as I get what your saying, it's all gravy....

That said,

 

[hazy]

Thanks Spiral, I was wondering how long it would take to be called a grammar nazi. I lasted longer than I expected - proof that this really is a friendly forum! I noticed vtac correcting someone on their spelling, so I thought I'd add my . If I had my way I would prefer English to be completely phonetic, but that's another story (AoZ's attitude appeals to me).

As I mentioned, there are many well written posts where writers have obviously taken a lot of care to express themselves correctly, but somehow the apostrophe issue remains a point of confusion. Personally, if I make repeated mistakes (in anything), I would rather know than not know.

I do a lot of proofreading because my wife's Chinese and is studying at university, so it's become a bit of a habit to spot writing mistakes. Anyway, I know a lot of people couldn't care less about their written expression. No worries! I posted this topic to help people if they're interested, not to tell everyone how wrong they are. It might come in handy one day.

 

[vtac]

Everything is abbreviated these days, maybe that's why it's nice to read a 'formally' punctuated post once in a while. On the other hand, I know some really smart people who write emails as fast as possible with no capitalization or any form of proofreading--sometimes you just need to get a message across in a hurry. I just do it to stay practiced. Usually takes me 6 or 7 edits to get it right.

How am I doing, hazy?

Check out some YouTube comments if you're feeling particularly masochistic.

 

[Hennessy1414]

meh, yea, I don't really care. It's the interwebz, as long as I get what your saying, it's all gravy....

That said,
http://i34.tinypic.com/2zqv1np.jpg

thank you...

 

[vtac]

^ Another zero content post, and in this thread to top it off. Sorry, but you've been asked nicely so many times. This time it's a 1 week vacation.

As for the post you quoted, the problem is, a lot of the time we can't understand what you're saying. Better use of English would actually help you.

 

[stickstones]

its amazing how my weed doesnt care about it's punctuation.



That was for you, hazy, simply because I am just like you and it took me forever to let myself put up a post that knowingly had capitalization and punctuation errors!

 

[SpiralArchitect]

hazy, it was totally meant in jest, just to let you know. I can be a stickler for proper grammar and spelling at times too, it's just I generally don't mind as long as people take a few moments to make their posts understandable.

What really gets me is peoples improper use of effect/affect..... Seriously.

 

[hazy]

Well Spiral, you're just lucky that I'm a Hogan's Heroes fan!

stickstones, I can see you tried, but hey, you remembered the full stop and the spelling is 100%.

vtac, you're looking fine! Anyway, I'm no grammar expert, and actually don't mind reading gibberish if it's funny or useful. I usually like the free-flowing style of some writers (cheers VC). I chose to mention this apostrophe issue because it seems to show up everywhere, and it's not due to laziness or style, it's because of a failure of education. I've seen some quite eloquent and obviously intelligent writers consistently make this mistake.

Hey bongoman, thanks for the link. It's kind of funny. I'd actually like to see the use of the apostrophe for the possessive case eliminated (like in German). I bet whoever set up that site never imagined it would be discussed in a stoner forum!

...so now after all of this I'm shit-scared that if I make a mistake I'll get my arse kicked

 

[max]

if you omit capitals at the beginning of sentences, you immediately lower expectations of proper grammar usage. so if you tend to worry about whether you're using apostrophes correctly, just ignore the shift key.

i tried to avoid using the apostrophe in "you're", but couldn't do it. i guess i'm hopelessly anal.

Signs that you too, may be anal retentive:
you eat your M&Ms in color order.
you alphabetize your spices.
you remove the wheels to wash inside the wheel-wells of your vehicle.
you fold your dirty clothes before putting them in the hamper.
you're on a "calorie-counting" diet and you count the calories in the hot sauce on your "Big Beef Burrito Supreme".

 

[max]

^ Another zero content post, and in this thread to top it off. Sorry, but you've been asked nicely so many times. This time it's a 1 week vacation.

As for the post you quoted, the problem is, a lot of the time we can't understand what you're saying. Better use of English would actually help you.

We don't want members in good standing to get paranoid about an occasional low content post. It's chronic, repeated 'nothing posts' that'll get you in the dog house.

 

[hazy]

I feel guilty now because this has happened in "my" thread. I see what you're getting at vtac, but I have to say I've never seen this as an issue in any other forum. There is also the danger of becoming too subjective as to what constitutes a worthwhile post. However, I appreciate all the energy you have put into making this a great site.

 

[Volcano South]

you remove the wheels to wash inside the wheel-wells of your vehicle.

I did that this morning. Remember, don't operate heavy machinery (i.e. a car lift) while under the influence.


Whoever said it influences me? It is me.

 

[vtac]

Don't worry, this thread had nothing to do with it.

but I have to say I've never seen this as an issue in any other forum. There is also the danger of becoming too subjective as to what constitutes a worthwhile post.

There are quite a few forums that have a 'no turbo posting/zero content' rule. Posts of 2 or 3 words that amount to 'I agree' or 'That's cool' really add nothing to a discussion and lots of them in a row is pretty boring.

Henn is a cool guy I'm sure, but he's managed to piss off moderators and members... it's more than just low content posts, I assure you. More than misused apostrophes . Perhaps it was unprofessional to do that publicly but we're a pretty open forum.