What is the proper form?

Radios or radio's?

Photos or photo's?

Indeed, intros or intro's?

Enlightnment would be appreciated.

.

and despite him being a published author of academic texts, I have to spend an inordinate amount if time correcting his entries.

His favourite tricks are:

Not using the apostrophe at all, anywhere in the text.
Slipping in and out of the third person, sometimes mid paragraph.
Ending every other sentence with a string of exclamation marks to denote that he just said something funny!!!!!!!!!!

His argument is, it's on the Web, it's informal and therefore it doesn't matter.
I'm not the worlds leading expert in grammar, but I do think these things are distracting and make text harder to read. It's not about getting worked up over rules, it's about communicating effectively so everyone can understand you.

I think he does it on purpose to wind me up!

Not punctuation but I work with a lot of guys from the Indian sub-continent and they do it all the time. Every noun not just names.

I particularly dislike seeing "It's" being used instead of "its", and vice versa. Similarly, using an apostrophe before the s in a plural.

Greengrocers in particular seem to have trouble with the latter. I loved Terry Pratchett's use of that (in I forget which Discworld book), where a greengrocer had all his dialogue printed with an apostrophe before every plural s.

I do get troubled by how often people don't seem to know the difference between "they're", "there" and "their". But a few moments of Mrs Old Nick whispering "there there there" to me makes it go away.

I do struggle with the names of songs and whether to use leading capital letters when referring to them in print. For example, is it:

1. Everybody wants to rule the world
2. Everybody Wants To Rule The World
3. Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Should there be quotation marks around the song title?

My thoughts are that it shouldn't be 1 because the song's title is a proper noun i.e. it is the song's name. So that means the answer must be 2. However, 3 looks the best (to me).

I get a little less bothered about the incorrect use of punctuation. My general rule is if I notice it, the message is being overtaken by the medium. I know what the greengrocer means when he writes potato's. It doesn't make me cross that an expert in vegetable's isn't an expert in grammar. Lynn Truss has a lot to answer for.

...reviewing and correcting reports prepared by my team.

Well, I say correcting. What I am really doing is replacing their written idiosyncracies with my own.

I think the one that amuses them most is the use of numerals rather than words in written text. My rule of thumb is that all numbers up to twenty should generally be written as words, but above twenty should be written as numbers (21, 84, 3,520 etc). I am sure I was taught this years ago, but it may just be a foible of my own that I have developed.

It makes for great sport - I'm sure they slip in numbers here and there just to check whether I'm paying attention.

Am I right in this, or did I make this 'rule' up in my own head?

(Oh, and to answer the OP, I'm generally pretty relaxed about this stuff, but the one that really jars is seeing the parliamentary form of agreement written as 'Here, here' rather than 'Hear, hear'. Aaaaargh!)

... if you're looking for a trusted source, and there're spelling and punctuation mistakes, does it matter?

I've been put off from using certain people for services (legal, accounts, PR etc.) when their marketing is – to quote an old Eng Lit teacher – littered with errors.

threw me into a fit of despair. A dilemma beckoned: whether to assertively correct the outrageous abuse of the English language or, as the Word Faqs state "drawing attention to grammatical and spelling errors contained in others' posts is considered bad form. We request that you refrain from doing so" simply to ignore it. I chose the latter, not because it didn't annoy me intensely, but because I knew it would make absolutely no fucking difference whatsoever as to when it would be repeated.

Sorry Fraser, but that's the only way to express how I feel.

And it's CDs and DVDs too.

but I start to emit smoke from my ears when I see the word 'paninis' written in cafes.

For the last time:

1 'panino'

2 or more 'panini'

'paninis' is a double plural and doesn't make sense

the it's/its confusion is perhaps the single most common mistake seen on the net (even on this Blog). Probably because people can't grasp that there is no possessive apostrophe for its.

Another I see all the time on forums (not so much this one, I must stress) is Here, here (instead of Hear, hear).

It usually comes in response to some dumb-arse comment or other such as: ”I think we should bring back hanging for just about everything”.

“Here, here!”

...for my 'style' of quoting from a printed source over several paragraphs by using " at the START of each para but only a closing " at the end of the last. The tutor seemed to think that only one " at the multi-para beginning and one " at the end was correct.

I fumed when I received this written feedback (via a colleague on the course) and vowed to quietly have it out with the tutor when next I saw her. (Having had a previous life in newspaper/non-fiction writing and two university quals, I KNEW I was right! And I was/am insecure enough about my present lowly circumstances to NEED to prove it!!)

To be fair, the tutor caved in immediately without me having to cite anyone/anything - and impressed me by saying she had checked the Harvard style guide and also asked a colleague. (I'd double checked style sources too, which had backed up my understanding of what was 'correct'.)

Truth is, it probably IS a 'style guide' issue rather than one where there's a definitive answer of current, global acceptability.

And on the question of numbers - I've always followed the 1-10 in numerals, 11+ written rule (except around here, of course...)

....the Oxford comma? No!

Grrr! I could crush a grape!

.

Oops, sorry. I meant: Why, thank you for these posts!

...probably winds some of you up ;-)

Even though I was always in the top set for English at school, I can't recall ever being taught about (semi-)colons and I'm still unsure about them now :-/

Can some of who who do this sort of thing for a living please recommend any good books on the subject of grammar and that?

at such mistakes if the people that made them really should know better. Usually any one of my many managers at work. The number of presentations and documents that I have had to amend before they sent them out is shameful.

There you are, standing on the trap with a noose round your neck. Fellow comes dashing in waving a piece of paper on which are written the words: REPRIEVE IMPOSSIBLE TO BE HANGED.

'Sorry mate,' says the hangman. 'Off you go.'

'Hang on,' you yell. 'You think it says REPRIEVE IMPOSSIBLE, TO BE HANGED, don't you? Well, I think it says REPRIEVE, IMPOSSIBLE TO BE HANGED.'

While the hangman goes off scratching his head to consult, you free yourself and saunter off to freedom, because that's the kind of chap you are.

Baby we were Born to Run.

That is all.

Not punctuation but the incorrect use of 'less' and 'fewer' drives me mad. I was always taught the rule : 'Less cheese, fewer mice.'

Language is (or should be) a precision instrument designed to express meaning as accurately and concisely as possible. Grammar, punctuation and spelling are essential components of that instrument, without which it simply doesn't work, in the same way that mathematics doesn't work if the components aren't correct.

Of course we all know what a greengrocer means when he writes "potato's", but that doesn't mean we should follow his example.

That's all.

When asking a question when do you use 'what' and when do you use 'which'? I notice this when playing Trivial Pursuit.

...the thing that really grinds my gears is when someone uses 'Each to their own', when they actually mean 'To each his own.' There is no alternative to this phrase. The Times got it wrong in the header of its leading article this morning. Grrr.

These now seem to be used interchangeably - I often find them misused in official documents - and yet have completely different meanings.

And I've just about given up on insisting on the difference between acronyms and other abbreviations. The Scottish Government's style guide, for example, insists that BBC is an acronym.

a well-known travel agent offered bargain holidays in Barbado's.

Manchester United is the greatest football club in Manchester, or Manchester United are the greatest football club in Manchester?

a sign on the platform at Bolton train station that read:

We Sell "Pies"

sends me a birthday card with my name in inverted commas. She's onto my secret identity, obviously, and isn't afraid to let me know it.

Oh yes, we will judge you:

Respect to Joey Barton, says Steve Lamacq, the hard-grafting agitator who still connects with people who want the game, not the Match of The Day experience.

So Steve Lamacq is a hard-grafting agitator, is he?

If I was to ask somebody whether they liked the song "Life on Mars?", how many question marks would I need? Should it be,

Do you like "Life on Mars?"?
or
Do you like "Life on Mars?"

My colleague who teaches English language did not know.

as the first question mark is part of the title.

suggested and just reorder the sentence to avoid the issue.
The quotation marks are unnecessary.

Can anybody be bothered to remember which are considered to be the "minor", and therefore lower case, words, and isn't it a matter of house style what's capitalized and what isn't? I usually end up changing the correct, but fussy titles to have a capital at the beginning of every word. Also mp3 titles don't always look right in title case. To cap it all the question mark isn't even available in file names making Life on Mars.mp3 look even more incomplete.

but I detest the increasing popularity of "could/should of", rather than the correct "could/should have" (or "could've/should've"). Another one is "seen as" a replacement for "seeing as".

the unnecessary colon after 're'.

...I recall a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with a sizeable UK publisher 12 years ago, in a biog I wrote, on the question (raised by me) of whether 'National Service' should be capitalised or not. (Can't remember what was decided but it was an interesting question!)

Similarly we pondered the use of a capital T or not for passing references to 60s pop acts with a definite article. We settled on lower case for all bar one exception - either The Beatles or The Who, I can't recall - simply because the lower case didn't look right on the page in that one case. Strictly speaking, of course, all such acts SHOULD have had their 'The' capitalised - because its part of a proper noun/brand name and would have been capitalised on their products. Nevertheless, contrary to the pragmatic exception mentioned above, it looked a bit arch to go with upper case 'The' as standard for some reason.

The matter was further complicated by certain acts who may have been known informally or even formally (on SOME releases) WITH a definite article and yet also known WITHOUT the def article. For example, certain records, posters, flyers, etc, will credit 'The Pentangle', others 'Pentangle'. Ditto 'The Taste' / 'Taste'; 'The Marmalade'/'Marmalade' and so on. It seemed to add weight to going with a lower case 'the' as a semi-formal precursor to the name proper.

I even saw a plumber's van bearing the message, 'Boiler's serviced'. If it was the boiler's innards being serviced that would be OK but you'd think the kin sign-painter would have had a quiet word

...as I didn't get a photo, but I saw an off-licence on the one-way system in Raynes Park, south-west London, advertising - on a lovingly self-printed fluorescent cardboard sign - HENNIKEN AND CARLSBER'G.

...to get to grips with apostrophes is the amount of irritation it causes John Humphreys - who apparently has his surname spelt in a variety of incorrect ways routinely, including the involvement of possessive apostrophes. He comes across as a supercilious and smug fellow - and I have an instinctive dislike for men who father children in their 60s/70s. It seems inherently selfish.

Stéphane Guivarc'h.

You've got to admit, this is a cracking little apostrophe, nestling there 'twixt the c and the h in the surname of this (retied) Breton footballer.

In Willesden High Road in London was a shop proclaiming to be Neils' Photo Agency. This offended me on two levels: as a former editor, and as a Neil. It bugged me for years. In 2008 during a sleepless night worrying about poor grammar, I decided to do something about the weeping sore that was the misplaced apostrophe in Neils' Photo Agency. I got the step ladder out from the cupboard under the stairs, put it in the car, and drove up to Willesden High Road. It was 4am, the local pubs and clubs had closed and there were few cars in the street. I pulled up, took the steps out of the car and set them up outside Neils' Photo Agency. The plan was simple. All I had to do was move the apostrophe eighten inches to the other side of the S and everything would be ok. I set about my task, climbing the steps with a scraper and a tube of super glue. The apostrophe gave way willingly under my fingers. It wanted to be placed correctly. I peeled it away from the backing board. As I placed it between the L and the S the burglar alarm exploded into life. Covering my ears from the piercing sound I lost my balance on the steps and fell to the ground, badly spraining my foot. I didn't have time to grab the ladder. I leapt into the car and made my escape. The police investigation was extensive. All known pedants in the area were questioned and anyone with a record of copy editing was placed under surveillance. I remained free for five weeks until forensics matched the marginal marks I had written next to the shop's fascia to my handwriting. I was bound over for six months and had my green and red biros confiscated. The court case was open and shut once the owners, both called Neil, had testified against me.

....people using "myself" or "yourself" when they could use "me" or "you", like "please return the completed questionnaire to myself by Friday". It smacks of trying too hard to sound formal. See also the usage (there's another) of "whilst" instead of "while".

Sorry not punctuation related - just use of language.

Hope I've not made any mistakes in this post. If I have, sorry.

when referring to the decade?

My local shopping centre, Boxing Day 2011

...and gave them some 'Christmas grammar idea's'

but I suspect they "would of" shrugged and told me to bugger off.

Three full stops, an ampersand and an apostrophe. Now, there's band name that contains entirely too much punctuation, if you ask me.

That final full stop/apostrophe combination always seems a little clumsy and/or redundant, but it appears on most of their records (I'm looking at a vinyl copy of McLemore Avenue as I write), so who can argue with that?

As part of my teacher training, I have to pass literacy and numeracy tests, set and administered by the Teaching Development Agency. I've been taking some of the practice papers online; and so far I've found two mistakes in their answers.

This does not inspire confidence.

were a '60s Birmingham band featuring several musicians who would go on to bigger things (among them Dave Pegg and Steve Gibbons).

Unfortunately for the Brummie boys, theirs was a band name that lent itself to all manner of different spellings, including The Ugly's, The Uglies and The Uglys (at various times I've seen record labels with all three). No one, least of all the band, could agree on the correct way to spell it and even their record label Pye weren't too sure about that wayward apostrophe. Yes, it was Pye again - see the Kinks' single above.

Here's the label of perhaps their best-known record Wake Up My Mind, a rare UK protest song and, trivia fans, a top five chart hit in Australia.

This is how seriously they took the jazz prog boom in New Zealand. From 1969, it's the second Colosseum LP - that's Valentyne Suite to you.

This may be a peculiarity with the names of Catholic churches and schools, but I am convinced that:

St Matthews Church
St Josephs School

are correct as opposed to:

St Matthew's Church
St Joseph's School

but I cannot justify it and I have no idea why this would be the case. I have a disant memory of learning this at school. Is it an old-fashioned rule? Did I make it up? Does anyone know?

As in:
'I tried to ring you today but you were obviously at work? If you want to talk about this more I am back in on thursday 24th?'
I've noticed it more and more recently and it annoys me beyond all reason.

There is a school near where we live which is called St Sebastian's. The apostrophe is present and correct in their signs etc. However, they have a school minibus. On the rear door of the minibus it says "Kindly donated by St Sebastians parents", the sign-writer having obviously, and understandably, ducked the issue of the apostrophes!

So, what should it be:

St Sebastian's' parents?
St Sebastians' parents?
St Sebastian's parents?
St Sebastians parents?

I think it should probably be the first but it just looks wrong...