Small errors can lead to big misunderstandings

Chris Davis, who was sacked as assistant minister by Campbell Newman for speaking out on doctor’s contracts, political donations and changes to the Crime and Corruption Commission, wrote a piece in the Sydney Morning Herald asking “Can Cardinal Pell be judged by 21st century standards?”

He tells a personal story of his education, intended to illustrate the effect of changing times and changing circumstances, autres temps, autres mœurs as he says.

He wrote:

My boys’ only school was a place of great good, thanks to some exceptional teachers.

I stumbled. Who are his boys, and what is it about their school relevant to George Pell’s conduct?

I stopped reading. An errant apostrophe had distracted me from Davis’ message.

The distracting power of errors

This is a good example of how a tiny grammatical error can distract your reader from the important message your writing is intended to carry.

The author was not intending his boys to possess – by way of attendance – the school (“my boys’ school”).

He was intending to describe the school as one attended only by boys, to the exclusion of girls.

“Boys” is usually a plural noun. Here it was intended to be an adjective qualifying “school”. It is in fact part of a compound adjective, with “only”, a word that, depending on context, can be an adverb or an adjective.

Noun: school. Which school?

A school that is attended only by boys.

Compound adjective: boys-only.

There was no place for an apostrophe in this sentence.

The apostrophe’s job

Apostrophes signify:

• possession – the relationship between two elements; or
• contraction – letters left out.

Some examples and observations about apostrophes:

Possessive apostrophes

Possession states a relationship between two (sometimes more) words. The first will be a noun (the person or things that possesses), and the second another noun, or a gerund (a verb that functions as a noun), or a nominal phrase.

• The school’s headmaster is a woman (noun)
• The skin’s redness showed a possible infection (mass noun)
• The skin’s big red infected area of rash … (nominal phrase)
• The defendant’s lying was exposed under cross-examination (gerund).

Not all possessives have an apostrophe

Possession can be flagged by a possessive pronoun (also called a possessive adjective) with no apostrophe:

• His book …
• Her school …
• Their cars …
• My grammatical error …

Words ending in ‘s’.

When a noun does not end in an s, signify possession by adding ‘s’ and an apostrophe in the appropriate place:

• the school the boy attends: the boy’s school
• the school the children attend: the children’s school
• the book belonging to Bob: Bob’s book
• the paddock where the sheep are: the sheep’s paddock

Take care with nouns ending in s (including plurals): there are different rules:

• the boys’ school
• the boss’s daughter
• Tom Jones’ hit record
• New South Wales’ Premier
• the bus’s rear wheel (awkward, no?)

Contractions – something’s been left out

Contractions usually involve a verb and a pronoun or a verb and negation.

• I’m (I am) – first person singular pronoun and the right part of the verb “to be”
• they’re (they are) – third person plural pronoun and “to be”
• didn’t (did not) – verb (“to do”) and negation.

It helps to know ’bout modal verbs (like would and will):

• wouldn’t (would not)
• I’d (I would)
• he’ll (he will)

The preposition “of” has no place in a contraction

• should’ve is “should have” not “should of” (another modal verb)

Contractions work differently in speech than in writing. In policy writing, and other formal writing, it is usual (and I think better) to write the words in full:

• The Premier’s asked for a brief – instead “The Premier has asked …”.

A bad sign

Misplaced apostrophes are surprisingly common on signs when used wrongly to form a plural noun (known as the greengrocer’s apostrophe):

• takeaway coffee’s just $1
• banana’s $2.30/kg
• Antique’s next left.

Policy documents need to communicate clearly to busy decision-making readers.

Small errors leap out and dominate. The reader sees only the typo, the wrongly used apostrophe or whatever. Our hard work comes back with a ring around the bit that seems not-quite-right. We have lost time, have to repeat our efforts, and we risk reputation loss.

A little bit of good grammar can mean the difference between success and failure in our policy endeavour.

My appreciation of the author’s message would have been uninterrupted if this small error had not been made.

My boys-only school was a place of great good, thanks to some exceptional teachers.

Much better. But what was he writing about? I forget …