Today is International Apostrophe Day!

I often wonder what people were taught in school, that they believe an apostrophe is always needed if referring to more than one item. Boxe’s, potatoe’s, tomatoe’s, chair’s, table’s. Did the teacher’s never correct their mistake’s?

I admit confusion. I'll write it is mos every time.

We own Parson Terrier breed, however there seems an occasional need for an s or 's - I can't work that out.

mos=most

Must remember preview.

Germanshepherdsmum

I often wonder what people were taught in school, that they believe an apostrophe is always needed if referring to more than one item. Boxe’s, potatoe’s, tomatoe’s, chair’s, table’s. Did the teacher’s never correct their mistake’s?

When my sons were in secondary education (1990s), it was clear from school reports that even some of their teachers hadn't learned how to use apostrophes. They were probably of the same generation as I am, and I was taught no grammar whatsoever in secondary school. Luckily, I had the chance to improve mine at a later stage when studying foreign languages, but many people of my generation never got that sort of opportunity.

I’m probably the same generation as you and I was properly taught (in state schools). Also, people read - don’t they take note of spelling and grammar when doing so?

Today is international apostrophe day!

Is it really?
Who knew

It is going to get progressively worse over the next few generations. All the youngsters who communicate mostly by texting and spend far more time reading social media than they do reading books or magazine articles by grammar-capable journalists will grow up having absorbed their knowledge of the language from sources where "the grammar police" is an insult. Some of them will become teachers - but not of English as we know it.

Germanshepherdsmum

I’m probably the same generation as you and I was properly taught (in state schools). Also, people read - don’t they take note of spelling and grammar when doing so?

Seriously, no, I don't think that the average person takes any notice of spelling and grammar when reading. It is different if they already have a good grasp of those things, as the eye is good at spotting things that do not conform to the rules that have already been learnt, but I strongly believe that the average reader sees nothing more than the story / message / information in the text.

How depressing, Elegran and Oldnproud.
Fortunately my son, who also had a state education, is as much of an apostrophe pedant as I am.

I disagree, Oldnproud. They may not be consciously noticing and remembering the actual writing of what they read, but it is all being scanned by the eyes and transferred into the brain, and has been shown to be recalled under hypnosis. From what we read we get not just the details of the plot and characters, but also of the author's attitude to what the characters are doing and saying, of what it must be like to live in the area in which the story is set, of the meaning in context of words which we have not met before (one of the most common way of learning new words after the first few years of life) and how the author has spelt each word and used them in sentences with other words and other concepts.

If we read nothing but classical authors like Walter Scott etc, our unconscious minds are full of long convoluted sentences with impeccable grammar and spelling. If we read only comic books, they are full of short exclamations - Pow!! - Whew!! - with very little construction with one clause being dependent upon another, and a narrow use of grammatical devices like apostrophes to show how one word or clause relates to another.

Hopeful authors are often told to read widely, reading all kinds of books and writings. That is how you absorb how to use our very expressive language.

I can see what you are saying, Elegan, but while I accept that reading a wide range of styles is very positive in many ways, I still don't think that that alone improves the average reader's grammar. In my own experience, I would say that it only made a huge different to my own language after I had acquired a sound grammatical framework, and, for me, that didn't come from reading alone.

I am saying this as someone who was a prolific reader as a child, but who was only taught very basic (primary-level) grammar at school, and whose grammar only improved when I went back into education as an adult. D
To put this into perspective, despite my love of reading, I had no idea how to use the apostrophe until I was in my late twenties.

But we are all, different, so I can accept that my own experience isn't necessarily the same as everyone else's.

And I just accidentally hit 'post' rather than 'preview', so please ignore the obvious typos above !

I hadn't noticed the typos, so they are not obvious - or I am losing my perceptive instinct.

A little bit late to the party but I came across this well-weathered horror during a walk in Hampshire a few days ago.