The Apostrophe Protection Society, founded to help writers with punctuation errors, has shut down due to increasing ignorance and laziness. The website remains accessible for reference.
What’s wrong with this sentence? If you have an understanding of basic punctuation, you’ll know that the correct way to spell the first word is “What’s that.” It’s a contraction of the words “what” and “is,” so you need an apostrophe.
Simple as it sounds, using apostrophes has long been a sticking point for many people, and according to retired journalist John Richards, the problem has gotten worse, particularly with possessive nouns. It got so bad that in 2019, Richards shut down his Apostrophe Protection Society after 18 years.
The group’s goal was to serve as a resource for writers. Richards saw the need after correcting punctuation errors during his tenure as a writer and copy editor, particularly with “the way the English language evolves through use.”
But his efforts have mostly fallen on deaf ears, Richards suggested when announcing the company’s demise. “We, and our many supporters around the world, have done our best, but the ignorance and laziness present in modern times have won!” he said. For those still looking for apostrophe advice, the website remains accessible, “for reference and examples,” but there is no interaction with the editors, and no updates are made.
Punctuation points:
In Latin, writers originally used the word “questio” at the end of a sentence to indicate a question; it eventually developed into the question mark.
The ancient Romans invented the period to indicate a pause between sentences. Before that, the sentences flowed together.
The recitations of the English alphabet had a de facto 27th letter: the ampersand (&), representing the conjunction “and”.
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