Apostrophe catastrophe! Girl finds 15 howlers in 15 minutes
IT is one of the most frequently misused punctuation marks.
But when nine- year- old Ammarah Mahmood spotted 15 glaring examples of apostrophes in the wrong place during a 15-minute walk round her local market, even her teacher was shocked.
Her class at Swain House Primary School in Bradford had been given a project to find examples of apostrophe misuse over a weekend.
But Ammarah came back into class the next day to tell everyone about the mistakes she had already found.
The errors included signs saying ‘No Drink’s Allowed in Shop’,
‘We were all so shocked’
‘Customers for Taxi’s Please wait here’ and ‘Open Sunday’s’. Teacher Sarah Rothera, 42, said: ‘I had taught a lesson on apostrophes and brought in a sign which said “Thursday’s” and asked the children to spot the error.
‘The next day Ammarah came in with 15 bad examples after dragging her mum around for a quick walk in Keighley. We were all so shocked.
‘Ammarah kept saying she was surprised because they are adults and should know.
‘I asked if she’d been working all night on it, and she said, “No, about 15 minutes”.
‘My favourite is the “Pie’s, Pasty’s, Sandwich’s and Cakes” one. Why haven’t they put an apostrophe in cakes, even though they have put ones in the others? She said Ammarah had inspired her classmates to seek out more examples. ‘Unfortunately, I think there are enough examples that it won’t take the children very long to find many,’ said Miss Rothera.
Ammarah is deaf but her teacher said she had quickly grasped use of the apostrophe in lessons on grammar, which has greater importance in the new curriculum. ‘It is quite hard to teach deaf children to read but we did a lesson on apostrophes and she instantly understood,’ said Miss Rothera.
‘I think it’s really important to get good practice instilled into the kids about correct grammar as early as possible.’