Case studies of word wars
As an occasional teacher of writing, I am always interested in cases where grammatical irregularities lie at the heart of the dispute. Robert C. Cumbow offers some examples in “News from the Trenches in the War of the Words,” published in the Washington State Bar News.
Cumbow also points out that U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas do disagree on some things, as Thomas forms a possessive of a singular noun ending in “s” with a lone apostrophe, while Scalia uses the Strunk & White approved addition of another “s” after the apostrophe. See Kansas v. Marsh. Justice David Souter sides with Scalia on this one.
Thanks to Tabitha Keetch for the heads up on this article!
