Apostrophes in Acronyms????

[Karateed]

My understanding is that the apostrophe is used 2 ways.....one to show possession and the other to show missing letters. In possession situations there are no missing letters.

I think one of the problems of the apostrophe is today's school system and dumbing down of the english language. The other serious detractment for the use is the internet itself where everything is typed fast and 'close' to correct for understanding only. How many times have we seen a message left on this board that uses short forms of words to save typing....obviously a texter would do this type of thing mostly but many shorten words that weren't meant to be shortened so.

It's actually sad to see but hasn't driven me around the bend. It just lets me know that I've been better edjumacated.

[angelize]

You are exactly right Ed. I think that those of us who find this annoying and actually take the time to use the apostrophe correctly are old enough to remember life without cell phones or laptops, and our parents taught us to respect our teachers. Back in those days too, at least here, our schools were properly funded and there were always enough textbooks and children who needed testing for learning disabilities didn't have to wait years to get it.

[zaphodeist]

Errrm ... talking about using "apostrophes" properly ...

[Karateed]

Well, to be fair John, those aren't apostrophes (can we spell typo here?). We would have to open a new thread on the proper use of commas, possibly a can of worms we don't really want to open from judging this topic, wouldn't you agree?

[zaphodeist]

That's why I put the word in quotes

[Karateed]

I knew that....it's just very funny to me is all......

[Drwyd]

What gets me is the misuse of "a" and "an" as in "an HTML file"

Apparently they are called "indefinite articles" or should that be inarticulate infidels ?

[Big Frank]

A Historic or an Historic
While we’re talking about different pronunciations, let’s talk about a historic. Some Americans argue that it should be an historic, but I come down firmly on the side that says it should be a historic event. One of the most contentious interactions I had at a book signing was over this point.

Here’s my reasoning: If you have an odd accent for an American and pronounce historic as “istoric,” you can make an argument for writing an historic, but it’s a stretch since the standard American pronunciation of historic is with the h-sound: “historic.” So even if you pronounce it “istoric,” most of your readers won’t.

If you’re feeling argumentative about this point, I’ll direct you to Bill Walsh’s website, The Slot, which has an exhaustive review of how different style guides deal with historic. But you should know that after reviewing many style guides, he also stands behind a historic being the correct choice.

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/a-versus-an.aspx

The thing I find most interesting about that excerpt is that the author seems to ignore the millions of native English speakers outside the US, as if how they pronounce and write English is somehow irrelevant

[Rik]

WOW! Well, for me anyway!

I can't believe that someone else thinks that it should be 'a historic' and not 'an historic'.
I have never understood why it should have been 'an historic' and as such, I never said it.

Thanks beret. You've made my day.

[handrawn]

legacy from when the h was silent in historic when spoken by them as 'made the rules'