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Looking at Cloudy's PM post reminded me of a question I've had for ages re the English language.
Why, in the past few years, has everyone started using the ' for plurals (not picking on you Cloudy, this is SO common - I've seen it in huge billboard ads. In fact, I think it is because it is so common that we've all started doing it, if that makes sense [img]smile.gif[/img] .. )
How did it start? Is it to do with Microsoft grammar/spelling corrections (being wrong...)
The ' is used for possessives, not plurals.
So, these are correct:
Mandy's book, Cloudy's post, Yorick's guitar, Saz's sigs..
These aren't:
CD's, video's, PM's, 100's, 1960's, bank's, and so on. The correct usage is CDS, videos, PMs, 100s, 1960s, banks.
Does anyone know how this trend started? It seems to have gone from 0 - 60 in less than five years. As a professional writer and editor, I come across it all the time. In fact, I've started doing it myself, when I don't pay attention.... [img]smile.gif[/img]
Or is there a little known rule in the English language that I am just not aware of?
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