English question...

[Michael McIntyre]

It's worse in Britain than it is here.  When I taught there in the early nineties the distinction had thoroughly evaporated.  The error you found in your students' writing had made its way into the New Statesman.

Michael McIntyre


>>> joanna.bujes at ebay.sun.com 04/25/02 05:35PM >>>
This is soooo embarrasing...

Starting in the mid eighties, I started to notice that a large percentage 
of my students confused the genitive with the plural ending: "Her parent's 
went to church. The grandmothers pies were the best." etc.

I could not figure out how exactly the collective American mind had 
short-circuited into this stuff, but the evidence was there before me every 
time I graded a paper.

Now, I'm doing it. So, all you current/former English teachers and editors: 
is it EVER correct to specify a plural ending with an 's???

I see this in technical writing ALL the time: "To broadcast a message, 
specify a list of url's for the destinations."

????

Joanna