The death of the possessive its

I suppose the tills were open from 6 am 'til 11 pm

I worked for rather large retail chain and once they sent a large plastic hanging banner to all the shops in the chain, to announce our new opening times. The banner announced ; open ...6 am .... till 11 pm. When I pointed out that should be ‘til not till, the management laughed at me. The next day every banner was recalled , at great expense, and re-issued two weeks later. Smug or what!

I think learning Latin does help with grammar, but probably not with apostrophes , I thought that there are none used in the Latin language as the genitive case is used.

However, it's an interesting thought - did the Romans speak their language in a more colloquial fashion than the formal way we learnt it?

I wonder though if in the stone you show it is actually correct, if the stone mason meant to say Jesu, as in Jesu joy of man's desiring
I thought that too oodles and that is probably correct, then I noticed the wandering apostrophe in the line above.
"There the spirit love's to tread"

I follow a lot of schools on Twitter and it drives me mad when I see things like 'the assembly was lead by the Year 6 children'. People think it is like read and read and lead and lead - not led! Also on occasion - one from the local police Twitter feed and another on a website advertising professional services - 'Please bare with us'!

Upper primary (KS2) SATs have the odd formal grammar being tested. Seems daft that such a simple piece of grammar as use of apostrophe is being neglected so pupils can 'do' fronted adverbials.

My granddaughter was taught simple grammar at her Infant School so, hopefully, the next generation will have more understanding of spelling and grammar. The rules are really very simple. If children had a year of learning Latin at secondary school, they would, I feel, have a much more comprehensive understanding of both. I took it at A Level.

So hate people beginning a sentence with 'So'

So what's wrong with that?

Bathsheba. One if the gravestones in our churchyard has a spelling mistake corrected, it has a bit of stone replacing it, it is quite obvious.
I wonder though if in the stone you show it is actually correct, if the stone mason meant to say Jesu, as in Jesu joy of man's desiring

Can't you just disable the auto-correct? I did so years ago on my computer, after Microsoft insisted on spelling words incorrectly that I had spelled correctly.

I believe both their spelling checker and their grammar checker had got better since then, but having gone to school in Scotland at a time when grammar was most definitely taught, I need neither.

I bewail the demise of the apostrophe in all words that should have one. Anyone who finds the rules difficult, must have had a very poor English teacher.

Anyone able to explain why we say, "Aren't I?" After all we conjugate the verb: I am, you are, he is etc. but I have heard both myself and others say, "Aren't I right? although we probably all would say, "Am I not right?"

Irenelily I agree the expectations on grammar knowledge are high and thet is not necessarily a bad thing but I am yet to be convinced that other than it being 'knowledge' that it will help young people to become fluent or creative writers.

The present National Curriculum has certainly “upped the ante” on grammar. As a Primary School governor, I am now up to date on Frontal Adverbials etc - of which I never heard at my Grammar School all those years ago! Correct use of apostrophes is covered and so many other rules - including weird names for phonic sounds. I sometimes wonder why the 7 and 8 year olds need to know the names of all these rules - being able to use them should be enough.
How about giving the SATs papers to the House of Commons! Wonder what their score would be!

start..not stat!

"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. "

Shakespeare thought it was ok to stat with a But!

I think "rules" about writing sentences starting with certain words really only apply to formal communication.
In poetry, plays and novels the writer is free to use words more creatively. Otherwise it all becomes dull and formulaic.

I haven't yet altered the spelling or misuse of apostrophes when out and about, but inwardly rant and rave. DS,Dil and DD now send me howlers that they encounter too.
I used to correct misspelt words and poor grammar - I was a History teacher, though I was frequently told by the English Dept that it wasn't my job ? I carried on.
So hate people beginning a sentence with 'So'

Ha ha, I've just seen that nannyto3 agrees with me!

My pet hate? "I would of ..." no, no, no! It's would have, or would've if you must contract.

You can't apply this rule to 'it' because ^"it" has no name
"It's" i.e "it is" a shame that you haven't clarified what "easy-peasy" is meant to signify in the context of English grammar?
Btw; on our OZ "Border Watch" prog. on TV this evening it said a villain "pled" guilty when charged with a drug offence. Can't remember when I last heard that; must be an Americanism, again.

Gonegirl, we were similarly taught. ?

Crossed posts (crost?)

No Hildagard if the verb is “to text”, surely the past tense is “texted”.

Hildagard
If I type 'I text you', it implies that it is an action you are doing. It is the present tense.
Texted, is the past tense.

...and the pesky 'c' is there again Grrrr.
The c apostrophe.

Thecapostrophe doesn't like sitting in the wrong places either.
Many people write
brother's
sister's
coat's
bag's etc
in non-possesive situations.

Just a bit of aside but why say ‘texted’ surely it’s just text, not pronouncing the ‘ed’?