Steve Woods

Last year Mid Devon District Council took the daft and ungrammatical decision to ban the use of apostrophes – and other punctuation – in street signs (posts passim).

Mid Devon’s decision was justified by the pathetic excuse that removing punctuation was to “avoid confusion”.

This same line is now being trotted out by Cambridge City Council, in whose hallowed halls the city’s reputation for learning and scholarship appears has lost a battle with the dead hand of bureaucracy, as the Cambridge News reported on Friday.

According to the Cambridge News

Officers said they were following national guidance which warned apostrophes could lead to mistakes, particularly for emergency services.

Needless to say, with such a high profile city, the move has been criticised by language experts.

Quoted in the Daily Telegraph, Kathy Salaman, Director of the Cambridge-based Good Grammar Company said:

I know some people think apostrophes are superfluous but we really need them and I think it’s the first step on a slippery slope.

If councils are getting rid of them, what kind of message does that give out to students at schools?

Dropping apostrophes is pandering to the lowest denominator and while eradicating them anywhere is dreadful, it is particularly bad to do it in Cambridge.

Quite.

One must wonder what kind of English language teaching the officers of Cambridge City Council underwent at school, particularly since according to the British Council‘s grammar reference for people learning English, the rules for the use of apostrophes are “very simple”.

The British Council’s advice on using apostrophes is reproduced below for any passing council officers with responsibility for road and street signs.

Apostrophes
We use an apostrophe (‘) to show either possession or that there is a letter missing (e.g. the apostrophe in ‘she’s’ shows that there is a letter missing in ‘she is’)

We use apostrophes with people or animals to show possession.

• My sister’s house.
• The dog’s blanket.

For things we use ‘of’ (the front of the car, NOT the car’s front.)

The position of the apostrophe depends on whether the noun is singular or plural. look at these two examples.

• My friend’s house. This is about one friend.
• My friends’ house. This is about two or more friends who share a house.

If a plural noun does not end in ‘s’ (e.g. men, people, children) we use ‘s to show possession.

• The children’s bedroom.
• A pair of women’s sunglasses.

We also use an apostrophe in some time expressions.

• two weeks’ holiday
• ten years’ experience

If people are really getting confused by apostrophes, doesn’t this indicate that English language teaching – particularly that related to punctuation – needs to be improved? After all, banning something you don’t understand is the action of a philistine.