Today I thought I'd check out the South Australian spelling test by searching Google. What I found however wasn't good. I found the following document on a Northern Territory government site. The document was written in 2007.
www.education.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/5254/wordstudy_booklet.pdf
I opened the document and started to read the first paragraph. I didn't even reach the end of the first sentence and there it was. The dreaded apostrophe error. The use of an apostrophe to indicate a possessive when no apostrophe was required since it is simply a plural.
As I scrolled I noticed another common error. The abbreviated form of example written as Eg instead of E.g. At that point I simply stopped reading. There are eight teachers who have put their name on this document and yet not one picked up the error in the first sentence.
Sometimes I wonder what chance do our children have when those who are teaching them aren't as thorough as they could be.
I personally struggle with the use of apostrophes and one reason is I see incorrect usage every day. The incorrect usage makes it much harder to work out which is correct and which is incorrect. Perhaps it's time to try to reduce the incorrect use of apostrophes.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.Australian-Dictionary.com.au
www.education.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/5254/wordstudy_booklet.pdf
I opened the document and started to read the first paragraph. I didn't even reach the end of the first sentence and there it was. The dreaded apostrophe error. The use of an apostrophe to indicate a possessive when no apostrophe was required since it is simply a plural.
As I scrolled I noticed another common error. The abbreviated form of example written as Eg instead of E.g. At that point I simply stopped reading. There are eight teachers who have put their name on this document and yet not one picked up the error in the first sentence.
Sometimes I wonder what chance do our children have when those who are teaching them aren't as thorough as they could be.
I personally struggle with the use of apostrophes and one reason is I see incorrect usage every day. The incorrect usage makes it much harder to work out which is correct and which is incorrect. Perhaps it's time to try to reduce the incorrect use of apostrophes.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.Australian-Dictionary.com.au
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.