This punctuation mark is a double threat – appearing when it is not appropriate and missing in action when it is needed. It can serve as a contraction, as in the word it’s, meaning it is. But there is not any apostrophe in its when the intent is to show possession as in “the dog dropped its bone.” It appears that most people include an apostrophe whenever a word ends in s … just in case. For example, when driving past a popular Kingston establishment some years ago, I was taken aback to see a sign out front exhorting the Toronto CFL team to “Go Argo’s.” Even more incredible was a sign that I came up when driving through Georgia; It read “Peache’s for Sale.”
#2. Both Singular and Plural
There is an increasing tendency to find sentences which treat a subject as both singular and plural. A typical example is found in a June 2 Globe and Mail article about Facebook workers unhappy that Trump’s inflammatory posts were not challenged. “Another person, who was supposed to start work at the company next month, told Facebook they were no longer willing to accept a position at the company….” Even if the person was of two minds on the subject, a person is not “they.” Sometimes we find this incorrect mixture of singular and plural because the gender of the person is unknown and it seems stilted to say something like “told Facebook that she/he was no longer willing.…” I can think of no explanation in this instance, but for our widespread acceptance of this ungrammatical usage.
#3. That, Instead of Who
It is now standard practice to see sentences that talk about people “that,” rather than people “who.” People are not objects, so I’m not sure how this grammatical mistake has proliferated – unless it is because of uncertainty over whether to use who or whom. Perhaps it would help if you remember the title of that popular Dr. Seuss book “Horton Hears a Who.” It was NOT “Horton Hears a That!”
#4. The Death of Affect
As I’m sure you have noticed by now, the word affect, or affected, has been purged from the language. Exclusively instead, we say that something will have an impact or something is impacted by a development. Here again, I’m not sure if part of the explanation is uncertainly over when to use affect or effect, but I find it remarkable that the use of the verb affect has almost totally disappeared from everyday usage and the word “impact” – a noun in its earlier existence – is now everywhere.
In conclusion, I realize that the reader may wonder why I would waste time on such a subject. But we need to pay attention because the decline in grammatical standards could be quite impactful!