I wonder if the standard of literacy is any higher over there.

You sometimes read in the paper about the low standard of literacy in Canadian university students. I always wondered how that could be. However, my granddaughter started high school on Thursday and I found a note sitting on the counter. It was from three teachers at the high school about choir practice. It mentioned practices on "TUESDAY'S AND FRIDAY'S".

I said to my granddaughter it's a pity that the teachers even think that those two words are possessive. I said "It's not Tuesday's child or Friday's weather". Its just plural --- every Tuesday and Friday!!!

Good lord - if the teachers are illiterate it's no wonder the kids are too. I bet its (it's!!!!) no better in the UK. I am not saying all teachers but it's too bad that between the three of them they couldn't get it right.

Sorry but that is one of my pet peeves . . . one dog -- two dog's. Grrrr!

http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/

More ridiculous examples there.

Ironic that you shoud have given us a link to the apostrophe protection society. .

In Quebec for many years the apostrophe has been illegal on outdoor signs. So years ago Eaton's was chanjed to Eaton. It had all to do with this obscene language legislation which somehow or other is supposed to preserve and protect French.

It's a rearguard fight I'm afraid... in modern English usage there are few who have been taught grammar and syntax. (To all of my generation forced to study the classics may I just say "Salvete Puellae") However you could write (ANONYMOUSLY!) to the principal to ask him/her to point out the correct usage to the teachers.

that assumes the headmaster/mistress is any more educated?

This item made the news a few months ago.

I find it fascinating how a misplaced or redundant comma made all the difference. If you think you know the basic rules of punctuation then this will be of interest.

Grammarians take heed of telecomma dispute

GRANT ROBERTSON AND BEPPI CROSARIOL , Globe and Mail Update

It began as an arcane legal dispute between two Canadian companies, but a fight between Rogers Communications Inc. and Aliant Inc. over the placement of a comma in a multimillion-dollar contract has ignited an international debate over the importance of language.

After a long period of deliberation, Canada's telecom regulator is expected to rule on the case in the next few months. When it does, an array of business experts, law schools and language specialists from around the world will be watching the outcome closely.

The comma quarrel — which threatens to cost Rogers at least $1-million because of a simple grammatical issue in the contract — has been called an English teacher's delight, reinforcing the value of basic punctuation and grammar in the business and legal worlds.

Dozens of universities have flagged the case as a cautionary tale for business and law students, while language specialists from across Europe and North America are now weighing in with arguments and advice in the dispute.

“The phone has been ringing quite a lot. We've had tons of people calling us who want to argue the case for us,” said Daniel Campbell, a lawyer for Aliant.

The dispute, which surfaced this summer, stems from a contract Rogers signed in 2002 to string cable lines across telephone poles in the Maritimes. Rogers thought it had an unbreakable, five-year deal with Aliant, which administered the poles.

But a few years into the arrangement, Aliant informed Rogers the contract was being cancelled, and its rates for the use of the poles were being increased by a sum that would turn out to be worth more than $1-million.

At the heart of the issue was a single sentence in the contract, which read: “This agreement shall be effective from the date it is made and shall continue in force for a period of five (5) years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five (5) year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party.”

That sentence has since been e-mailed around the world as academics, legal experts, newspapers, radio commentators and students argue over the true intent of the words. Aliant argues the second comma allows it to scrap the 14-page contract, since the termination applied to both the first five years and the subsequent five-year periods.

After parsing the words — and calling upon grammar specialists of its own — the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) agreed with Aliant. Rogers was incensed, insisting that neither company signed the contract with the intent of cancelling in the first five years.

Rogers has subsequently marshalled its own experts, including New York contract lawyer and legal syntax guru Kenneth Adams, who produced a hefty, 69-page affidavit. Rogers has also dug up a French version of the contract, where the sentences are structured differently, to argue its case.

The CRTC must now determine whether one of Canada's official languages should take precedence over the other in such a dispute. One insider at the CRTC said the case is by far one of the most unusual disagreements the commission has dealt with in decades.

While the comma battle may seem farcical or absurd, academics say it is no laughing matter.

When McGill law professor Richard Janda was invited on public radio in the U.S. recently to discuss the case, he said the comma dispute should be heeded beyond Canada's borders. “I've been warning students [in Canada] with it,” Mr. Janda told NPR. “So I'm happy to have that warning sent across the border.”

University of Toronto law professor Peter Ruby added the case to his curriculum in September then returned to the subject for a lecture in October when Rogers raised the language debate in its appeal of the first CRTC ruling.

Speaking to a conference of energy companies in the U.S. recently, Mr. Ruby asked a room full of executives to voice their opinion on the sentence. The results indicated how divisive the comma debate has become: “I had the audience vote ... Half voted one way, and half voted the other way,” Mr. Ruby said.

Should Rogers lose its appeal to the CRTC, the telecomma — as it's been dubbed in Canadian legal circles — will be going to court. Consumers have questioned whether Rogers' customers could be left footing the million-dollar bill if the company is unsuccessful. But Rogers lawyer Ken Englehart said the money would be added to the company's operating costs. “Essentially, we would have to eat this money,” Mr. Englehart said.

Brilliant....
No doubt they'll give the French version greater weight - oops.

Thanks for that link, I enjoyed reading it.
This is a regular irritation for me. See, it really isn't very difficult, but appears to be too much for modern teaching. So sad.

What about "dos and don'ts" (or do's and dont's! )?

http://www.google.ca/search?sourceid...s+and+don%27ts

Not that I never make a grammatical error or a spelling mistake, but they do jar on reading from time to time. I thought it was brave of Judy to remark on paragraphing (again) the other day. I too find posts very difficult to read with no punctuation and spaces between. It's my age you know, as well as my education; I really can't see too well these days, nor concentrate!

I usually tend to try and restrain myself from commenting however; it's a cross we pedants should learn to bear as when somebody is having a good rant or pouring their heart out over something, the last thing they tend to want is an English lesson!

The importance of a comma.

Which is correct A or B?

A . Macdonalds, the global fast food restaurant chain, just opened its 10,000th outlet, in The Bronx.

or

B. Macdonalds, the global fast food restaurant chain, just opened its 10,000th outlet in The Bronx.

Those who can't see the difference should go back to school.

B.

I guess this might be the time to mention "Eats Shoots and Leaves" - although I will leave the punctuation out because there are too many variations!

Sort of on a similar topic. On the radio on Thursday on reading the news, the announcer mentioned something about how the Taliban had released all the Koreans, but said they objected to Korean "merceneries" and Korea said they would not send any more "mercenaries" to Afghanistan. I actually think they were MISSionaries -- rather different from mercenaries!

I remember being enthralled at school as a classmate related how, when they had being living in some far-flung and not now remembered place, their home had been invaded by gorillas waving guns!!

Sorry but is A.

Picking B would mean the chain had 10,000 outlets right in The Bronx. Maybe it has 10,000 worldwide but impossible to have that many in The Bronx.

One of my supervisors regularly corrects my grammar and punctuation - incorrectly. She insists that "that is the Canadian way" and I insist she is just, well, wrong. We have a few battles over this issue, along with the complete disregard shown for accurate spelling and the most dreadful letter composition from allegedly degree educated workers. The lawyer invariably gets hold of the corrected (legal) work. She corrects it back to where I had it. She gets paid about $200/hr more than I do.

Err, it's McDonald's not MacDonald's, so who goes back to school in this case?