lets vs let's

[prezbucky]

let's = let us
lets = third-person singular form of "to let"

apostrophes are used for good reason -- they're used so that readers know the difference between a possessive and a non-possessive, a simple plural word and a possessive, etc.

I dare us to drop the apostrophe -- then try understanding your students' term papers.

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of course, there are times when it's employed improperly:

"The Henderson's are coming home."

--> Since "Henderson" is the name of one person in this clan, logically we would refer to more than one of that clan as "Herdersons".

"If you watch the video closely, you see how the dog let's the possum go."

-->Let's = let us

"Your going to give me herpes, you slob!"

--> Your = possessive pronoun ; You're = you are

etc.
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I say we revere the rules of the apostrophe and keep them holy... lest we make it more difficult to understand the written word. Let's respect the ap'st'phe!

[prezbucky]

i'm seeing a lot of this again (unbelievably) -- not in here, but at work:

"Customer wants to disconnect it's service"

"Its Friday -- welcome to employee appreciation day!"

makes me sick

[Molly]

[prezbucky]

yeah, we can be informal in here -- no big deal to me. heck, I write things like "gonna" and probably make all sorts of typos when I post in here.

We should all try to be good and proper in the context of formal writing though (imo).

[lost_soul]

[Torsten]

[Yankee]

[Yankee]

[prezbucky]

yeah

(nice answer, huh? lol)