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"This is common practice, and might become standard one day.
However, the few of us who are still literate inevitably misread
MES's as a possessive. Later in the sentence, we realize that we're
wrong, and then we have to reparse it - which is an annoyance."
I am curious about the degree to which those of "us who are still literate" are
fighting back the waves of illiteracy that seem to be increasing in frequency.
I have over the years been party to many discussions about apostrophes and other
punctuation and grammar confrontations. For the most part punctuation issues
are taken as "minor," by folks other than writers. However, I have always felt
that poor punctuation reduces the credibility of the text at least as much as
poor spelling does.
Last September, I began teaching Freshman Composition. I was somewhat surprised
at the lack of concern given to punctuation by my students. I was also
surprised at the lack of hard knowledge my students had about punctuation. Most
seemed unwilling to correct their lack of knowledge through study.
While this can be attributed to just "being a freshman," I think it may indicate
an overall sloppiness that seems to be creeping into our society. For instance,
these same students seemed to lack the ability to grasp critical thinking (that
ability to systematically resolve a problem) skills as well. To generalize
boldly, I am coming to believe that we are becoming more sloppy in our thinking
and this is evident in the degradation the standards that shape our language.
Thoughts?
Lisa A. Miller
Technical Writer
Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
Packaging Team - Corporate Engineering mailto:lisa -dot- miller -at- anheuser-busch -dot- com
(314) 865-8904
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
-- Benjamin Franklin
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