52. APOSTROPHE: PANIC ATTACK

Whether it concerns the possessive form or pluralisation, the apostrophe always seems to signal one of two reactions: panic or complacency. Let's take the possessive form for proper nouns (names) for starters. Debate about this started soon after Joe Biden cleared the way for Kamala Harris to run for US President last month. Is it Harris' or Harris's run? The Associated Press (AP) stylebook states that an apostrophe should be used for singular proper names ending in s: Dickens' novels, Hercules' labours, Jesus' life. But Benjamin Dreyer, the retired copy chief at Random House and author of "Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style", maintains that adding the 's "is just simpler, and then you can take your valuable brain cells and apply them to more important things."

Pronunciation

A similar opinion expressed on the social platform X, where apostrophes are thrown around like hand grenades, suggests that "if you say the s, spell the s," reflecting the stance taken by the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal – and at odds with AP. The Guardian states in its style guide: "The possessive in words and names ending in s normally takes an apostrophe followed by a second s (Jones's, James's), but be guided by pronunciation and use the plural apostrophe where it helps: Mephistopheles', Waters', Hedges' rather than Mephistopheles's, Waters's, Hedges's."

Presidential conundrum?

Timothy Pulju, a senior lecturer in linguistics at Dartmouth College, says he expects the 's form to become dominant eventually. But for now, he – along with the Merriam-Webster dictionary – says either way is acceptable. "As long as people are communicating successfully, we say language is doing what it's supposed to be doing," he said. "If you can read it whichever way it's written, then it seems like it's working for people. They're not getting confused about whose running mate Tim Walz is." The Harris campaign, meanwhile, has yet to take a clear position. A press release issued by her New Hampshire team touted "Harris's positive vision", a day after her national press office wrote about "Harris' seventh trip to Nevada".

You say tomato's, I say tomatoes

Well, it seems that either form – s's or s' – is fairly safe. So no need to panic there. Perhaps more disturbing is the increasingly vexing use of the apostrophe for plural forms. Panic seems to set in at will. I mean, how may pancake's and burger's can you eat in one sitting! Okay, I come from a time when English grammar was taught rigorously at school, before the baby was thrown out with the bathwater in favour of a more thematic approach to English through the exploration of ideas. Nothing wrong with that but without the backbone of grammar, you end up with a jellyfish sprawled haphazardly on the page. Not only in the commonly mangled greengrocers' signs for "tomato's" but also in apparently professional journalism. Let's not forget that today's journalists are products of the modern teaching 😉.

4001

Bob McCalden, chair of the Apostrophe Protection Society, says, "Apostrophes matter. It is important they are used correctly because it makes the written use of English that much clearer." The fact that apostrophes have been around for hundreds of years is for good reason. "It is really a matter of whether you want to use the English language correctly or incorrectly.

There's a small chain of restaurants down here in Surrey that is driving me mad at the moment. They have special Tuesdays and they put the apostrophe in Tuesdays. I don't think they do it to just irritate me." He says that the protection society is thriving, with 4,000 members. "I'm delighted that it does arouse passion in other people as well, not just me. If I was the only person ranting about it I might give up." Make that 4,001! And I haven't even got to the infuriating "its" and "it's" ... a future blog, maybe.

- Chris