A tiny, tiny little rant:

[LearnedHand]

Sorry, folks, got to get this off my chest (hint: it's about grammar). I love it that one thing (among many) that distinguishes us from the freeps is our (mostly) intelligent discussion of issues.

However, the use (improper use and non-use) of apostrophes is making me crazy! Please, let's not look like the freeps with our grammar! Here are the guidelines:

1. NEVER (under any circumstances) make a noun plural with {'s}. EVER! It's incorrect 100% of the time!

2. DO USE apostrophes when you mash two words together into a contraction (let's, can't, wouldn't, don't, you're, for example).

3. DO USE apostrophes when you are indicating grammatical possession (the ________ belonging to the ____________): Bill's papers; DUers' postings; the Mods' edits; WillPitt's appearance; and so on.

Sorry for the visit of the School Marm. I just can't STAND IT when the postings I read here look like postings of a refugee from Freeperville.

[MercutioATC]

1. Thats one of my pet peeve's too...

:evilgrin:

Seriously, it is. Don't know why, but it bothers me.

[LearnedHand]

2. 'Cause it makes us look...

...stupid?

:evilgrin:

[MercutioATC]

4. Yeah! That's it!

Bad grammar gets me too, but I really don't see too much of it here (at least not as compared to some other sites).

[caledesi]

16. One of mine as well. The plural, esp. w/ acronyms....just a lower-case

is correct. No 's....that is possessive.

[lindashaw]

3. Well, I'm a writer, and it bugs me too. Most of my posts are...

edited, because I see that one little thing out of place and have to run fix it! :) Thanks

[newyawker99]

17. Congrats lindashaw!! 300 posts

:toast:

[Brucey]

5. Okay, I'll try.

[scarlet_owl]

6. Sorry.

I know I use too many commas. I am the run-on sentence master! I spell ok, though.

[RC]

7. Tiny? That's a biggie.

Who wants to come across as a freeper.
But then some here are ex-freepers who have seen the light.

[LearnedHand]

8. True...

...and thats (sic) more important! <grin>

[sspiderjohn]

9. OK on the apostrophes -- I still claim poetic license on caps, though.

as an old fan of e.e. cummings and "archie and mehitabel", often i choose to type without caps -- depends on the mood -- and use dashes and dots incorrectly all over the place . . . . kind of like dialogue, i guess.

I hope these idiosyncracies don't bother other DU'ers too much.

[scarlet_owl]

10. Doesn't bother me.

I'm a fan of dashes and dots as well.

[Skittles]

11. 4. ~ it's ~ ALWAYS means IT IS

unless you are referring to COUSIN IT'S CAR. :7

[dofus]

12. If they ever open up

a grammar moderator position, I'd apply for it. I am driven completely crazy by the incorrect use of apostrophes, and it's all I can do not to send nasty message to those who misuse them.

It's is a contraction of it is.

Its is the possessive, something belonging to something.

It would be nice if we could spell-check our posts before posting, but even then a lot of correctly spelled wrong words (site for sight, for instance) would slip through.

[MuseRider]

13. I am such an idiot

when it comes to apostrophes! I don't spell very well either. I have one question, I can't remember the rule and since you started this...when does the apostrophe go before the s and when does it go after? I could go look it up but........

[dofus]

19. The apostrophe

goes before the s if it's a simple possessive. Or in the case of the "it's" in the previous sentence, the word is a contraction, and the apostrophe indicates a missing letter. It is becomes it's.

The apostrophe goes after the s in a plural possessive. The cars' horns were honking. The horns of more than one car were honking.

[SiobhanClancy]

14. If I can understand what people are trying to say,

then I am perfectly satisfied. I can understand how it might bother some people,but I have no problem with "creative"(incorrect,if you prefer)grammar or punctuation. The older I get,the less things bother me:)

[HEyHEY]

15. haha

Yeah, but many people just don't give a darn! I'm a freelance journalist and when I write here, I don't pay any attention and just go. DU is supposed to be when I don't care!!!!

[blondeatlast]

18. Ex-high school English teacher puts in her two cents.

I consider MBs to be like casual conversations. Grammar takes a backseat to ideas that have scarce time to be edited. Editing comes at the expense of spontaneity.

There are some rally egregious mistakes, but I tend to let them pass. Besides, sometimes the error can be quite amusing. I made a whopper of one once before subject lines could be edited, and no, I won't repeat it here. Those who saw it will probably never forget it, though.

[ironflange]

20. Hey, are you Allan Fotheringham?

Wait, can't be, Foth is still pissed at PET for driving over his foot that time.

Pretty safe to assume that you're not David Frum or Ezra Levant.