I agree about the apostrophe. People should ask themselves if there is a need for an apostrophe when they’re tempted to use one.
Another pet peeve of mine — and I see it a lot on here — is that people seem to think that the plural for ist words is the same as the singular. Terrorist, communist, etc. It’s terroristS, communistS.
Okay, while I’m on a roll, I see a lot of could ofs and should ofs rather than could’ve and should’ve. Again, if people would think, they would realize that it’s a contraction for should HAVE rather than an arbitrary use of the word “of.”
Thanks for the opportunity to get that off my chest. :-)
No problem. I know that most of us spot these writing errors, but don't say anything about them, for the most part. I'm no different, but perhaps once a week, my patience wears thin, and I point out an error to someone.
It's my consideration that it's a failure of personal ethics for me to sit quietly while my fellows butcher the language all around me. It's just another form of suppressive political correctness, in my view.
I'm not suggesting that we ought to hammer people who err in grammar, spelling, and punctuation, but a friendly correction here and there is warranted, I think.