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I may get a bit of stick for this but why is our writing getting worse. I know that on line we all make errors and that's fine but basic english that a 9 year old should know seems to be beyond many of us. A browse on the site this evening prompted this when I saw several topics started by members who think that the the plural of photo is photo's. Even my local camera shop in Durham had this on their shop sign. Changed shortly after I went in and pointed it out.
Most plurals in english end with s so one dog, two dogs, one photo, two photos. The apostrophe is used when something belongs to the photo. EG the photo's colour, the photo's edge, the photo's price etc. etc.
Please don't get me started on plural and singular, this is for 5 years old and younger. TV ad writers are extremely ignorant and offer us... there's easy payments instead of there are easy payments. Listen to the ads tonight, they'll drive you nuts!
Grrr Well I'll sleep better now having got that out of my system.
I'm a teaching assistant who works with nine year olds and believe me, they don't have a clue when it comes to the use of apostrophes.
Nor do they know much regarding how to use any other punctuation for that matter.
Neither, I fear do their parents and therein, probably, lies a large part of the problem.
Quote: I may get a bit of stick for this but why is our writing getting worse.
Maybe it all started with the death of the question mark.
Quote: Neither, I fear do their parents and therein, probably, lies a large part of the problem.
The phrase pertaining to hitting a slim and long metal object with a hammer on it's top surface, springs to mind Brendan.
I am a retired infant teacher and some of my bright 7 year olds were getting the hang of it. I do agree with your last comment though. innit!
I'm sure all the staff in your school have never ever suggested that the kids should put an apostrophe in when there are two of anything. Since the age of 4 say. So where do they get it from??????? Report of demise of question mark (or question mark's demise) is overstated.
I don't think righting is getting worser, just some people are good at it and some ain't.
For me spelling is the simple process of flinging letters at the screen till it looks right and the spell checker stop's complaining and I'm sure I aint the only one.
Personally I would worry more about the number of people wot cant write a simple bit of HTML or CSS, after all thats' the real language of the web.
You're not the only one loweswood, it drives me mad as well because it trips my eye up when I'm reading it. I was quite annoyed to see you spelling the word English with a small 'e'!
Apostrophe is important, it changes the meaning. Consider:
Is this my dinner I see before me or the dogs?
Is this my dinner I see before me or the dog's?
Is this my dinner I see before me or the dogs'?
Three different meanings.
Quote: Consider:
Is this my dinner I see before me or the dogs?
Is this my dinner I see before me or the dog's?
Is this my dinner I see before me or the dogs'?
Three different meanings.
So you say.. all look the same to me.
Shows how bad the sites got when some people's highlight is searching it for grammatical errors....
(Should that be "show's", "site's" or "peoples"???? - I'll consult my resident English Lit graduate in the other room...)
I heard on the television that A level results, issued today, were as high as ever. I'd like to bet that most students could not write a couple of sentences without making a few spelling mistakes! One that really annoys me is the use of the word 'there' instead of 'their' or 'they're'. 
Steve
Quote: So you say.. all look the same to me.
. . . oh dear!
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