APOSTROPHE PURGATORY

After reading Monday's article about exclamation points, a friend reminded me about her constant source of anguish which is the rampant misuse of apostrophes.  She asked, "Remember your article called APOSTROPHE HELL?  You need to re-publish it because I am in Apostrophe Purgatory!"

                                             APOSTROPHE HELL




So many people to hate, so little time.

If there's an APOSTROPHE HELL this has to be it. If you see that fellow with his banner, ask him, "Why do you love the apostrophe so much? Repent and believe in grammar."

But don't let that banner push you away from apostrophes either. There are places where an apostrophe has its place.

Finally, rest assured there's no Hell, grammar or otherwise. You don't need to pay for the overuse of apostrophes in another life. Overall, the universe's apostrophe store stays in balance. It seems our linguistic world was intelligently designed; for every gratuitous apostrophe there's an instance where it's omitted.

My thank's to the reader who sent me that mans photo. (yes, of course I did the "thank's" and omitted the apostrophe in "mans"on purpose!)