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The misplaced apostrophe epidemic - Page 4

post #46 of 51
10/21/10 at 7:01am
As a teacher of literacy to adults, I've got to deal with this stuff on a daily basis. I don't mind my students making mistakes - at least they're making the effort and coming to class, admitting they need help. It's the people who really should know better who wind me up...

They don't wind me up enough to create a website, though, like this one:
http://www.apostropheabuse.com

Some pretty funny stuff to get your blood pressure up...
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post #47 of 51
10/21/10 at 7:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by perk252 View Post
I don't mind my students making mistakes

Ironically enough, you're missing an apostrophe in that phrase. :P

It should be "I don't mind my students' making mistakes," as you need a possessive noun before a gerund. This is an increasingly awkward form to use in casual communication, though, without coming across like a snobby douche. So I mostly let this one slide, and/or break this rule myself on message boards.
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post #48 of 51
10/21/10 at 7:46am
Ouch! Well spotted, but (in British English at least) it's okay to use mind + object + ing, as in "I don't mind you smoking"...

But like you say, there's a point at which you have to let certain things slide. Even though I know it's wrong, I can't get worked up over "less" and "fewer".
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post #49 of 51
10/21/10 at 9:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arrogant Bastard View Post
Ironically enough, you're missing an apostrophe in that phrase. :P It should be "I don't mind my students' making mistakes," as you need a possessive noun before a gerund. This is an increasingly awkward form to use in casual communication, though, without coming across like a snobby douche. So I mostly let this one slide, and/or break this rule myself on message boards.
Buh!?! The most intuitive way for me to parse that sentence is for "making" to be a present participle (verb), not a gerund (noun), and therefore not needing a possessive. If you only have one student, "I don't mind my student making mistakes" would be perfectly acceptable. When "making" is a gerund, the sentence is basically saying "I don't mind the mistakes of my students," but in the participle form it is saying "I don't mind when my students are making mistakes." There is a subtle shift of grammatical weight that I believe properly belongs to the students, not the making of mistakes.
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post #50 of 51
10/21/10 at 11:30am
+1

Agreed on "making" being a present participle, not a gerund. As a teacher, though, I've got a struggle on my hands keeping my pedantic urges in check in order to avoid the hour-long conversations about things like whether there's any difference between "burnt" and "burned". And as Arrogant Bastard pointed out, on a forum you're better off letting things slide or God knows what the threads would turn into...

I do sometimes show my adult learners forum threads (not this one!) or the comments sections on news websites (the Sun is always good fun!) to show them they're not the only ones struggling with spelling, punctuation, grammar...
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post #51 of 51
10/21/10 at 11:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arrogant Bastard View Post
Fucking stop it, you moron's'.

Fixed.
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