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Apostrophe Apostle
I am now the proud owner of a copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss. The first time I read of this book's existence, I knew that I had to buy it.
I did get a slight shock on my first quick skim through the book. I'm one of those people who insist upon a comma before the "and" when listing three or more objects.
"The flag is red, white, and blue."
The author writes, "Probably the first thing you ever learn about commas, that they divide items in lists, but are not required before the and on the end."
Huh? Big sigh of relief as I continued to read. She explains that the comma before the "and" is called an Oxford Comma, is not considered standard in Britain (but is permitted), and is considered standard in the USA (where its omission is permitted). So, I have been doing it correctly--for an American.
I've only read half of the book so far, but I LOVED the chapter on apostrophes. Those poor little curves have so much work to do and are so abused. Is it really so hard to write, "Sirius is Remus's lover," instead of "Sirius is Remus' lover"? And may the militant pandas save us all from the people who write, "Sirius is Remus lover."
By the way, Sam, I loved Harry's apostrophe abuse in the latest chapter of Laocoon's Children and that Sirius comments upon the same!
I did get a slight shock on my first quick skim through the book. I'm one of those people who insist upon a comma before the "and" when listing three or more objects.
"The flag is red, white, and blue."
The author writes, "Probably the first thing you ever learn about commas, that they divide items in lists, but are not required before the and on the end."
Huh? Big sigh of relief as I continued to read. She explains that the comma before the "and" is called an Oxford Comma, is not considered standard in Britain (but is permitted), and is considered standard in the USA (where its omission is permitted). So, I have been doing it correctly--for an American.
I've only read half of the book so far, but I LOVED the chapter on apostrophes. Those poor little curves have so much work to do and are so abused. Is it really so hard to write, "Sirius is Remus's lover," instead of "Sirius is Remus' lover"? And may the militant pandas save us all from the people who write, "Sirius is Remus lover."
By the way, Sam, I loved Harry's apostrophe abuse in the latest chapter of Laocoon's Children and that Sirius comments upon the same!
British vs. American
So, let's all just agree to gang up on the fools who stick apostrophes into words which are plural but not possesive, or who forget to include them altogether!
P.S. But I ask all of you who prefer "Remus's lover" and "James' balls," don't you hear the second s? I do.
Re: British vs. American