Misguided, but well meaning

General consternation all round. At work, they discovered that the Guardian had a column all about the apostrophe. In particular, the work of an ex sub-editor, who has set up a two man Apostrophe Protection Society, caught our attention. This man has written many letters to apostrophe offenders (apostrophenders?) alerting them of their errors.

I like the way this group thinks. There is one small problem, though. Tesco came under fire for advertising:

With a suggested correction that omitted the apostrophe. Tesco was correct, however. According to the Chambers Guide to Punctuation (and my own guide), the apostrophe is used in the plural of numbers, when written using numerals.

Whoops! Still, I would like to help the Apostrophe Protection Society. Guys, get on the web and get in touch!

09 May 2001
Ashley Frieze