- Use and abuse of the apostrophe
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kerle wrote in
linguaphiles
- November 10th, 0:16
Possessive *it's
Plural *city's
The mind-boggling, nonexistent *its'
Conjugation *say's
Is it getting worse, or have I become hypersensitive to this? One thing that I've noticed is that it rarely presents as an error of omission. There is a very strong tendency towards error of addition. I've even seen signs where two plural words are side by side, but one of them (and not the other) inexplicably includes an errant apostrophe to form the plural. I can see how a misunderstanding would lead to the error here and there, but what reasoning drives this misuse to appear in side by side plural words, neither of which requires an apostrophe?
Yes, this is venting. But I'm also genuinely curious. It has come to the point that when I come across the spelling it's and there is no error in usage, it gives me pause. I silently thank the writer before I move on.
Edit to add asterisk to city's.