Writing’s on the wall as we lose our grip on grammar
It came as no real surprise when John Richards announced the Apostrophe Protection Society was closing its doors. When it comes to spelling and grammar, we seem to have stopped trying, writes Katie Bice.
Opinion
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The death knell for the humble and misunderstood apostrophe clearly began when “s’s” crept into acceptable grammar.
It was a sign we were raising the white flag of surrender.
It had somehow been decided that as an English-speaking society we could not cope with the task of correctly placing an apostrophe before or after an s. So instead we were going to dumb it right down.
It came then as no real surprise when John Richards announced the Apostrophe Protection Society was closing its doors.
Mr Richards, a former sub-editor, began the organisation in 2001. A loyal group of supporters was encouraged to call out incorrect use of the apostrophe.
And while many could call Mr Richards a pedant with too much time on his hands, he did score some victories. He successfully lobbied large department stores and governments to drop unnecessary apostrophes from titles and helped overturn a council ban on apostrophes on street signs.
But the question remains: how has it come to this? Since when were we so incapable of applying ourselves to learning something so basic we decided to stop trying?
Has technology made us this way? Are we now so intellectually lazy we couldn’t be bothered? What’s next?
Colons and semicolons are already extinct. Hyphens must now be considered critically endangered. After all, they are much more confounding than apostrophes.
As well as losing our grip on grammar, the issue is worsened by all the incorrect words and phrases we are now accepting.
Take the word “versing”. We shouldn’t say word, because it isn’t one. Certainly not in the context kids are using it now. “Who are we versing in basketball this week?” they ask each other. It’s horrendous.
Twice in two days people have used the word elevator in conversation rather than lift.
Watch any sporting press conference and you’ll see what a loose relationship we have with tense.
Suffixes are to be used where and when a person sees fit, using them correctly is more good luck than good management.
But those of us who like the conventions of grammar can hold on to one piece of hope. Traffic to the Apostrophe Protection Society site has increased 600-fold since the announcement and it has been temporarily shut. The secret society of apostrophe lovers may be larger than we thought.
Katie Bice is the Sunday Herald Sun deputy editor