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Grammar and the Nomination Fight |
by Alex Thurston :: Filed Under Special Topics :: May 7th, 2008 @ 12:03 pm EST
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One reason I’m really looking forward to Hillary Clinton’s (likely) concession, whenever it comes, is that one of the most annoying grammar mistakes I’ve ever seen will recede somewhat in the public discourse. People, including major bloggers, will simply not stop talking about “the Clinton’s.”
Look: one Clinton + one Clinton = two Clintons. No apostrophe. Even if your document editor puts a red underline underneath the word (as mine is doing right now), ignore it. It’s “the Clintons.”
This crops up with other names too, but people really seem to love to do it with Bill and Hillary Clinton.
I’d like to congratulate my fellow Seminal contributors on their mastery of this grammatical concept.
I hadn’t noticed this problem in the blogosphere (perhaps because I see the word “Clinton” and I quickly run in the opposite direction), but I’ve noticed this little grammatical blunder in a number of contexts recently. In fact, it seems people think proper nouns or foreign words require apostrophes regardless of whether they’re plural, singular, or possessive.
It’s a common TA gripe, so I’m glad we’re not the only ones who are endlessly frustrated by this problem.