More problems with English from today's Telegraph

[TopGun]

According to the survey nearly half the nation cannot use the possessive apostrophe and, most annoyingly, often replace "they're" with "their".

 

The apostrophe has emerged in an independent poll of nearly 2,000 people as the punctuation mark that causes the most problems. Nearly half of UK adults tested were unable to use it properly.

 

The most common mistake was not knowing how to punctuate a possessive plural.

 

Nearly half (46 per cent) of those that sat the test thought that, in the context set, "people's choice" was wrong – whereas it is, of course, correct.

 

The test was set by voice-to-text service SpinVox, which automatically converts mobile phone voice messages into written texts and emails, complete with appropriate punctuation.

 

The poll also asked which mistake makes people the most annoyed.

 

Replacement of "they're" with "their" gets us most irritated.

 

In second place was using an apostrophe to denote a plural – as in the use of the incorrect "boy's" instead of correct "boys".

 

Joint third was using "its" instead of "it's" and vice versa – the confusion between a plural possessive and abbreviation of "it is".

 

Professor Christopher Mulvey from the Museum of the English Language at Winchester University, one of Britain's foremost English language experts, said: "The problems people have with apostrophes arise from the hopeless state of English punctuation and spelling.

 

"The situation is so confusing that people panic and hypercorrect. To get it right, you need to look up the rules every time you think an apostrophe might be needed – and do this for the next six months in order to 'internalise' the rules."

 

Londoners came out on top as Britain's best regional users of the apostrophe, getting 78 per cent of the answers right.

 

Surprisingly, the 55+ age bracket, whose generation had "proper" grammar lessons, came out bottom of the age ranges.

 

The 25-34 year olds, who have not had the benefit of such technical tuition, were the best, averaging 78 per cent.

 

The survey came just a week after Oxford University published the top 10 most irritating expressions which was headed by footballers' favourite "at the end of the day".

 

 

To test yourself, answer these questions – identifying which of the below are correctly or incorrectly punctuated:

 

1. These are Charlotte Brooks' books

2. John is the people's choice

3. Buster is Janes' dog

4. How's it going today?

5. Johns' house is amazing

6. All the teams in the league are going to vote, so it is all the team's choice

7. You've got a lot of friends

8. They're friends are all very nice

9. It's a long way to Manchester

10. Its ahead of it's time

[Ponty]

1. Right (assuming her name is Brooks and not Brook).

2. Right.

3. Wrong.

4. Right.

5. Wrong.

6. Wrong.

7. Right.

8. Wrong.

9. Right.

10. So, so wrong.

[bridge too far]

1. Right (assuming her name is Brooks and not Brook).

2. Right.

3. Wrong.

4. Right.

5. Wrong.

6. Wrong.

7. Right.

8. Wrong.

9. Right.

10. So, so wrong.

 

Yep - you're not wrong

[Crouchie's Lawyer]

Their really good examples

[Ponty]

You are not allowed to be ironic on this thread. You make most of those errors most of the time.

 

[Crouchie's Lawyer]

You are not allowed to be ironic on this thread. You make most of those errors most of the time.

 

 

I wasnt being ironic???

 

When I concentrate and think about what I am typing, I am normally ok with my grammar, it is when I am typing fast or not really thinking that most of the mistakes happen!