http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/apostrophes-2 Language in a word Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:06:06 +0100 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/apostrophes-2/comment-page-1#comment-8551 Catanea Thu, 07 May 2009 00:21:29 +0000 http://www.linguism.co.uk/?p=261#comment-8551 or referents or referents

]]> http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/apostrophes-2/comment-page-1#comment-6012 Ric Morris Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:41:30 +0000 http://www.linguism.co.uk/?p=261#comment-6012 The apostrophe 'outcry' is an example of how some people take a scrap of grammar that they were taught at school and apply it with a bit too much enthusiasm. Names don't need grammar in the way that common nouns do - they can be 'misspelt' (Wilde, Kwik Save) or be 'plural' names for singular things (Hills, Waters), or indeed not be English at all (Rio de Janeiro, Amoco, Prince's 'symbol' name). Things can be labelled whatever way we choose (with or without apostrophes), but common nouns need a shared grammar to understand their reference. The apostrophe ‘outcry’ is an example of how some people take a scrap of grammar that they were taught at school and apply it with a bit too much enthusiasm. Names don’t need grammar in the way that common nouns do – they can be ‘misspelt’ (Wilde, Kwik Save) or be ‘plural’ names for singular things (Hills, Waters), or indeed not be English at all (Rio de Janeiro, Amoco, Prince’s ’symbol’ name). Things can be labelled whatever way we choose (with or without apostrophes), but common nouns need a shared grammar to understand their reference.

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