Is the MLA Intent on "Dumbing Down" English?

[Prezbucky]

A couple of weeks ago I was chosen to serve on the jury of a double-homicide trial. I met a fellow jury member who is an English major at the University of Tennessee. According to him, the MLA (one of the leading English grammar resources in the world, integral to millions of papers written by millions of high school and college students in the US) is trying to eliminate the use of the apostrophe in possessive formation.

WTF?!

Are they willing to sink to the level of below-average writers? Why else would they recommend such a retarded change?

1) If people don't understand the proper use of the apostrophe, we should do a better job of teaching it and making learners give a damn about learning it -- rather than giving in to those who either are too dumb to learn or don't care.

2) If they succeed in removing the apostrophe from possessives, how the hell will their audience --the already grammar-challenged -- be able to tell the difference between subject/predicate and the possessive noun phrase?:

Now: ...the dog's bone...
Future: ...the dogs bone...

That apostrophe is necessary in knowing whether we're talking about a bone belonging to a dog or a couple of dogs having sex.

The practical downside of this alleged move would be catastrophic. The apostrophe is vital to understanding what someone is trying to express in writing.

MLA says that languages change: Thee/thou/thy changed, and so should the use of the apostrophe.

But that is an INVALID point -- pronouns can change without corrupting grammar -- but changing apostrophal use would F shit up.

What do you think?
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[AmYankee]

Hi Tom

Since you are so ardent about this topic, I'm sure you will have an equally ardent opinion about these articles:
Apostrophe catastrophe
No more of those dumb commas

Do you think it's a dumb thing to do? Or do you think its a dumb thing to do?
One thing's/things for sure: Whether or not the apostrophe is there in written English will not make a dang bit of difference in the way we pronounce words such as it's, its, thing's and things.

(I know you were referring to the apostrophe connected with the possessive S, but once that's disposed of, I imagine the apostrophe in contractions will be next on the chopping block. Revenge of the texters?)

Have fun reading!
Amy

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ESL teacher, translator, native speaker of American English and author of more than 8000 posts on this site.

[Prezbucky]

Birmingham, England's government has been added to my list titled:

Dumbasses not adequately intelligent to tell the difference between their mouths and their assh0les.

Kings Park Church = a church where kings park
King's Park Church = a church located in King's Park
Kings' Park Church = a church located in the Park of Kings (AKA "Kings' Park")

Learners, if your teacher ever deducts points for proper use of the apostrophe (when you're clearly right according to the logical, venerable axioms of the use of apostrophes), do the protectors of proper English grammar a favor and smack him or her.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Prezbucky]

So when are apostrophes warranted?

1) To show singular possession: The dog's bone
2) To show plural possession: The dogs' bones
3) Contractions: Shouldn't, wouldn't, can't, aren't, etc.
4) Contractions as used in abbreviations: Cont'd (continued), '80s (1980s), etc.

There are those who think that the plural form of a letter should have an apostrophe: F's

I disagree, but that's not too big a deal (IMO)

But apostrophes NEVER, EVER, EVER should be used in a standard non-possessive plural noun:

- Saturday's are neat!
WRONG!! What, "Saturday is are neat" or "Saturday owns 'are neat'"? No! No! ****~*€> DUMB @SS!

- Sandal's are cool.
WRONG!!

- Let's eat some steak's.
I'm going to blow my brains out... seriously!



Maybe I'm being a bit nuts about this, but good use of the apostrophe IS important to English writing.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

Of course you're right but bear in mind that the apostrophe in the grammatical sense only really got going in the 18th and 19th century.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Phrasal Verbs/take

[Prezbucky]

It was a fortunate development for the language -- better late than never! hehe
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[AmYankee]

Here(')s another one for you, Tom:

Kill the Apostrophe

Are the people favoring punctuation-free English becoming more vociferous? Do you suppose the people who make spell-checker and grammar-checker programs will eventually devise different settings for different punctuation styles such as "default", "chatroomesque", "boldly aggressive", "thoroughly confused" and "custom"?


CU!
Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, native speaker of American English, and also known as Yankee on this site.

[Prezbucky]

I have a new enemy. I was steaming-mad as I perused the drivel on that site. The person is probably a Communist to boot.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Jamie (K)]

There's a tendency among pedagogues since the 1960s to go soft on things that it would take effort to make kids learn. If it's a little hard to teach, or takes some practice, or the kids initially don't care, they call for its elimination.

Another part of this common trend is teachers who basically say you don't actually have to know anything as long as you know where to find it.

I wish I could call for the elimination of EVERYTHING I'm incompetent at.