Well, of course, so am I. However, when you are advertising to the public with signage, which has a fairly blatant error, they have lost my confidence in the quality of their work. There are many other beauty salons. Others, of course, may disagree.
I don't agree. Probably one of the reasons they entered their career is that they were not academically inclined. It doesn't mean that they are not good at their job.
It's a similar situation with the well-known greengrocer's apostrophe. Errors on their signs have never put me off buying their fruit and veg.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Well, I'll give you that, if they made the sign themselves. However, if they hired someone to put up their signs (which, at least where I live, is the more common situation - even with fledgling businesses), then I'd have to disagree with you, arnie. They should hire quality people who do know apostrophe use since signage about businesses is their business.
Mike Pope of the Morphology Facebook page wrote this:
Apostrophes. People get 'em wrong all the time. Right? Some people feel that this is because writers just aren't applying the lessons they should have learned in school. (Can we say "lazy"?) For example, here's a comment that appeared recently on a Facebook thread:
Apostrophes aren't actually very hard at all. They are stand-ins for missing letters. If you can extend "they're" to "they are" then it gets an apostrophe. Plurals never get them. This is literally first grade punctuation.
So I went back to first grade to refresh my memory about apostrophe rules. Here's what I learned!
Use an apostrophe to indicate a missing letter, like can't or didn't or ain't.
But don't use an apostrophe when you're just taking out a space! Just letters. Don't write do'n't.
Don't forget won't, which is a contraction for … wo not? Side question: What's ain't a contraction for?
And 'tis.
If you're contracting and, don't forget to use two apostrophes: rock 'n' roll, peaches 'n' cream, Bang 'n' Olufsen.
Use an apostrophe if you're combining a pronoun or noun and a verb, like she'll and there's and who's and Fred's and I'd've and they'll and Mike'll and y'all'd've.
Add apostrophe plus s to the end of a noun to indicate possession: dog's breakfast, pedant's delight. (Question: In dog's, what letter does the apostrophe stand in for? Answer: Shhh.)
Yes, add apostrophe plus s even if the noun ends in s, like the boss's red tie, Texas's Board of Education, and Davy Jones's locker.
And even if the final s is not pronounced, like Descartes's existence and Xerxes's army.
Unless you have a style guide that tells you not to add an apostrophe plus s to singular nouns that end in s, in which case it will be Davy Jones' locker.
Don't add an apostrophe plus s for certain names, like Jesus' and Moses'.
Hmm. We changed our minds, do add an apostrophe plus s for those names.
But don't use an apostrophe for certain names, like Harrods and Barclays and Publishers Weekly. (Question: How do you know which names these are? Answer: Yes.)
Don't use an apostrophe for the possessive form of pronouns! Like hers and its and theirs. Use whose for possessive, not who's.
Except in Dr. Who's 50-year history.
Oh, and except for one, like the evil one's cunning plan.
For the possessive of plurals, add s and then the apostrophe, like dogs' breakfasts or The Smiths' or both Jameses' cars.
Unless the plural doesn't end in s. In that case, mark the plural possessive using apostrophe plus s, just like the singular, as in people's choice and women's march.
And use apostrophe plus s for the possessive of plurals of compounds, like my sons-in-law's cars and the states' attorneys general's responsibilities.
Add an apostrophe when you're talking about time spans ("quasi possessives"), like 6 months' experience.
But not if they're time spans but not quasi possessive: 4 months pregnant.
Don't add any apostrophe at all if the noun is acting as an adjective: A Coen Brothers Production.
This includes terms like teachers union or farmers market.
Carpenters union or carpenters' union? Toss-up.
Don't get these confused: it's Ladies' Room but Women's Room.
It's Mother's Day. Or maybe Mothers' Day? But definitely Veterans Day. See previous.
If the word seems plural-y but is used in a singular sort of way, just add an apostrophe to the s, not apostrophe plus s, like economics' failure and the species' characteristics and the United States' role.
But don't add an apostrophe to the United States Constitution.
Add an apostrophe, but not an s, in for…sake expressions: for goodness' sake.
Unless the word doesn't end in an s sound, in which case do add an apostrophe plus s: for expediency's sake.
Plurals never get apostrophes. It's oranges, not orange's.
Wait, do use an apostrophe for the plural of single letters, like p's and q's and dotting the i's.
And use an apostrophe to indicate decades, like the 1980's. Or don't: 1980s.
And if you do write 1980's, don't add an apostrophe if you're contracting the name of the decades, like the '80s.
Use an apostrophe if you're writing the plural for a term that includes periods, like two M.D.'s on staff.
Or if it would be confusing to leave them out, like do's and don'ts. Or do's and don't's? Or dos and don’ts? Well, shoot. I just can't imagine why people don't get apostrophes right. The rules, as you can see, are perfectly clear.
Wow - now that's a lot of rules! To think what I am missing on FB these days.
I do have some questions, like, we're not supposed to say Jesus's beard or Moses's commandments?
Also, it's rock 'n' roll? I've always thought it was rock 'n roll. I do see it is often rock 'n' roll in Google, though I find rock 'n roll or just plain rock n roll, too.
quote:
Use an apostrophe if you're combining a pronoun or noun and a verb, like she'll and there's and who's and Fred's and I'd've and they'll and Mike'll and y'all'd've.
With this, why is Fred's combining a pronoun or nown and a verb?
In isolation Kalleh's is potentially ambiguous, but I don't think it would be practically ambiguous in context.This message has been edited. Last edited by: goofy,
I suppose you are right, Goofy. I just never would write that.
quote:
And use apostrophe plus s for the possessive of plurals of compounds, like my sons-in-law's cars and the states' attorneys general's responsibilities.
Interestingly, this came up just today. Just today I was writing a letter of recommendation for someone who was writing a grant, and I wrote, "...our "state boards of nursings' missions...", but for good measure I asked our editor (you remember her?) to be sure. My way sure seems right. However, our editor wasn't sure and decided I should simply reword the sentence to "...the missions of the state boards of nursing..." That made sense, but I think I was right with the apostrophe, too, don't you?
[Yikes! I was tired when I wrote this and should have written boards of nursing's, but instead wrote boards of nursing's. I just corrected it. Talk about confusing everyone...]This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,
