Date:    Fri, 19 Jun 1998 13:13:09 EDT
<br>From:    Ron Butters <RonButters[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM>
<br>Subject: Re: plural's - a new development?
<br>
<br>In a message dated 6/19/98 11:43:43 AM, someone wrote:
<br>
<br><<This [the use of apostrophes in nonpossessive plurals] is not a
<br>'development' as you refer to it in your header line; it's
<br>just an example of people who don't understand the rules of the language
<br>they're speaking.  Would it be a development if I were to say "there,
<br>their and they're" or "your and you're" or exchangable with one another?>>
<br>
<br>     First, when they use such apostrophes, "people" are not "speaking the
<br>language" at all, they are writing it. Indeed, apostrophes are unspeakable.
<br>     Second, rules involving apostrophes are not "rules of the language" but
<br>rules of spelling.
<br>     Third, languages do indeed occasionally "develop" new rules because
<br>someone (or group of someones) "says" there should be such a rule. For
<br>example, that is where the rule for writing "that" instead of "which" in
<br>restrictive relative clauses comes from.
<br>     Fourth, if everyone agreed that " 'your' and 'you're' are exchangable
<br>with one another" that would indeed be a "development"!
<br>