Bronte Follower: Blog

My laptop problem has become a fiasco. It is still at Dell and may need to take another round trip so that I don't lose all my documents. I know not how long this will take, but it's already been a month!

A new first for me in computer disasters: I've broken my screen when I tripped over it last night. I don't know how long getting a replacement will take, as I've no experience with such. Thankfully, I got Ch 87 uploaded before that.

is in the queue. Nothing at all critical, just some further elucidation of a problem.

... is in the queue. I wanted to get that one up, as the three-day sleepover is next, and that's going to take some writing time. Somewhat unfortunate for that need for writing time, a good friend is visiting for a few days and that will chew up what free time I have from work. So, just a warning that Chapter 87 may be a little while. Hopefully, it will be worth the wait.

Is this where we're going? Why is it (apologies to Andy Rooney for borrowing his tagline) that so many English writers insist on putting apostrophes before an ending 's' when there's no reason to do so? In English, there are two -- AND ONLY TWO -- reasons to use an apostrophe.

1 -- To replace the "missing" letters in contractions (e.g., can't, shouldn't, might've, she'll, I'd've)

2 -- To indicate possession (Tracy's book, the school's principal [and note the spelling of 'principal'], Occam's Razor)

I suggest that if one is inclined to insert an apostrophe, think twice and ask oneself if one is writing a contraction or indicating that someone or something possesses the item(s) immediately following.