The Apostrophe Revisited : Attitudes, errors and implications for teaching in an upper secondary school

Abstract: An earlier corpus study on Swedish university students’ errors concerning the use of apostrophes when writing in English (overuse, omission and misplacement) is contrasted to a new corpus study of upper secondary pupils’ texts. The results turn out to be similar: omissions are numerous among the upper secondary pupils, but overuses negligible. The proportionally most common errors are omissions in genitive constructions. This is contrasted to the views of the classes’ teacher, who perceived contractions to be more problematic due to these errors being more numerous. The essay also briefly deals with the teaching and the future of the apostrophe.