Glaring apostrophe error in a book about law for the layman

Ed. has just renewed his membership in the Grammar Police. He has this advice for those who aspire to be published writers.

Apostrophes give many writers a lot of trouble. Sometimes, you might be tempted to put an apostrophe where it does not belong, such as when you are simply making a word plural. 

Other times, you need to make a word possessive, but you might forget to use the apostrophe. 

Then, of course, there is that whole its / it’s thing that confuses most everyone. Remember, the rule is to use an apostrophe when you need to show possession or ownership. 

The exception is with possessive pronouns such as my, your, his, hers, ours, their, and its. "Its" shows ownership while "it’s" is a contraction for "it is". So, just like "hers" and "his" are possessive pronouns that don’t use an apostrophe to show possession, "its" follows the same format. 

For more information on the apostrophe, be sure to check out the Apostrophe section in the Punctuation area of Grammar Essentials of the Excelsior Online Writing Lab. If you just need to brush up your skills, visit the Apostrophe Refresher. 

If  you don't follow these rules, you might end up with a sentence like this: 

Its abundantly clear to me that the rule’s of English grammar can be confusing and following it’s many exceptions even more so! 😒

WRONG! The sentence should read (and be punctuated) like this.

It’s abundantly clear to me that the rules of English grammar can be confusing and following its many exceptions even more so! 😀

Quick quiz: See how many apostrophe errors you can find in the title of the book pictured at left.

Answer: "Juror's", "Sheriff's", "Bailiff's", and "Justice's" are all WRONG, using the possessive form where the plural is wanted. This is not a joke, but a real book, advertised on the Thriftbooks website. We'll have to give the author a pass, as he's obviously a product of American education. And yes, "we'll" and "he's" are correct. They are contractions of "we will" and "he is".

The Great "Garbage" controversy, plus a funny video

Got any "men" friends who are WDFH? Here, from The Patriot Post, are some suggestions for consolation gifts you can give (not "gift"!) them on November 6th.

But I digest. What's really important today is Senile Joe's latest and most horrendour gaffe, which the Cackler's handlers are trying to spin as nothing more than an apostrophe error in the official White House transcript. 

The White House said that "his supporter's demonization" -- the "supporter" being alleged comic Tony Hinchcliffe -- is correct, and should not have been understood as "his supporters demonization" -- the "supporters" being folks like most WWW readers. [Actually it should have been "supporters'" -- plural possessive -- with the apostrophe after the second "'s". Ed.]

Hours after the excrement collided with the air condition device, Mr Biden posted, "Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage — which is the only word I can think of to describe it." 

New York Magazine dutifully cast it as a GOP edit: "Republicans insist there was no apostrophe." Politico just covered it up entirely, as follows: "Biden, in a Zoom call with the organization Voto Latino, said ‘the only garbage’ was the ‘hatred’ of Trump supporters who said such things about American citizens."

Walt trusts that those who heard Senile Joe say what he said have become, thanks to American education, so insensitized to the ubiquitous apostrophe error as to believe it doesn't matter how you spell it -- the meaning is as clear as "basket of deplorables".

Babylon Bee's guide too good grammar

Ed. here. You know that Walt and I are sticklers for the proper use of the language of Shakespeare... and modern English too, "modern" being the English spoken by the Queen... Victoria, that is. ("American English" is an oxymoron.)

For us, it's a constant struggle to find and correct grammatical and orthographical errors. We have been forced to throw in the towel on the Apostrophe Error, because even professional communicator's seem compelled to insert an apostrophe before all terminal s's. Its a sin and a shame, isnt it?

And (said he, beginning not just a sentence but a paragraph with a conjuntion) let us not even begin to discuss "pause words", such as "basically", "like" and the dreaded "so", with which persons of a certain age and gender begin every sentence. So what?

We are happy today to find that we are not fighting the battle on our own. One of Walt's favourite blogs, the Babylon Bee, has entered the fray with "A Handy Guide Too Using Good Grammar", a compendium of tips for avoiding common errors of grammar and speling. 

Read it and learn, and know that you will always have our well wishes.