misuse of the possessive apostrophe-s.

s,

in the present tense

DO NOT USE THE APOSTROPHE!

misuse of the apostrophe in dates.

DO NOT USE THE APOSTROPHE!

the two most abused words in the English language

If everything is amazing and/or hilarious, then

NOTHING

is amazing and/or hilarious.

4) When in doubt, use Spell Check.

I would like to suggest that the following grammatical and punctuation errors be avoided by one and all;1)It's means "it is," not "its." Appropriate use, e.g.: "It's hot outside today." Wrong usage: "I looked at it's cover."I see this horrid mistake committed hundreds of times daily on the Internet and elsewhere. If a word ends in anchances are someone will ram that apostrophe in there. (e.g., "Today's Special's").Please, please, PLEASE--unless you intend to convey that a person, place or thing is being discussed,, or is in use as a contraction of two words (i.e., "it is, let us, what is"),2)Again: unless it is intended to convey the location or possession of a certain quality, such as "1867's drinking water supplies" or "1978's energy crisis,"The same applies to the use of decade-connoting dates. It is the 1950s, or the '50s--NOT the 1950's or the 50's!3)are "amazing" and "hilarious." It pains me to see these words used thousands of times a day in print and in conversation.There exists a wealth of synonyms--delightful words that convey these two properties. Please, please, please use them in the place of these two horribly over-worked adjectives.Visit synonym.com for easy access to other words that will help you communicate better and smarter.Computer users have a luxury--we can instantly determine if a word we've typed is properly spelled. Any computer's spell checking program will inevitably have bugs, but most of the time it's quite helpful.There is no good reason (aside from un-caught typos) that Internet writing should have spelling errors. We no longer have to interrupt our work, walk over to the bookshelf, pull out the dictionary, find the word, and return to our task. Right-click on a highlighted word and you'll know if it's correct or not.The speed of the Internet sometimes inspires sloppiness--in myself and in others. In our excitement to get our writing on-line, it's easy to forget that finely-tuned prose may require a little more time.It is worth the effort--and it takes little effort anymore--to double-check spelling before you make a post live. I often go over old posts and correct typos or poor writing. I feel it makes a difference, and that it supports my worth as a scholar and critic.If this plea can prevent the egregious misuse of proper English in the blogosphere, my life will not have been in vain.