Re: Forbidden to use apostrophes

[Michal Lastman <michall -at- AKS -dot- COM>]

John Bell wrote:

>I'm curious about the rule your editor has laid down about not using
>apostrophes, even for possesives. Is it the possesives she objects to or
>the apostrophes? I wondering if she (or some source she used) decided that
>possesives are undesirable and so formulated a simplistic rule of "eliminate
>apostrophes".

>Does she also outlaw the possesives that do not use apostrophes (hers, his,
>its)?

I've been so busy eliminating apostrophes (actually it didn't take me more
than a few hours) that I haven't had time to get back into the apostrophe
debate.

I never did find out the editor's reasoning but she said nothing about
possesives that don't use apostrophes (there was at least 1 in the book and
she didn't change it). My boss, however, is still convinced that the
apostrophe ban is due to the fact that objects can't possess and had me put
a deleted apostrophe back in the other day (obviously one that wasn't on an
object). When I suggested the sentence would be clearer to our ESL audience
if we didn't use the apostrophe (the only reason I can see for an apostrophe
ban), she said I was being extreme.

Michal, who not only can't win 'em, she can't even figure 'em.

michal -at- aks -dot- com

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