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The extraneous apostrophe is such a common error as to border on acceptable usage. The only people using datum in the singular and data in the plural are acade

The extraneous apostrophe is such a common error as to border on acceptable usage. The only people using datum in the singular and data in the plural are academics and Latin aficionados. The fact that the real cost driver was industrial is interesting. But improvement of the human condition has been ever about the follow-on uses of some new gadget, from fire for heat to whoever decided to cook food using the heat from fire.

chillacy 6y ago
There are so many non-native speakers of english (owing to it being the current international language) I don't even bother correcting grammar anymore in code comments in pull requests anymore. Unless it's like, user facing or something. But anyways, all the better I suppose to focus on content.
- vbezhenar 6y ago
  Grammar will be fine when browsers and other tools will implement good grammar checking. I don't understand why browser developers don't focus on it. There are some companies like Grammarly solving that issue, but that should be standard feature rather than paid opt-in. I can translate website in Chrome with a single click, but I can't check grammar. And translation is a really hard task, while grammar is pretty much formalized and could be coded without any AI breakthroughs. I'm not native speaker and my text likely contains a lot of errors. For example I fix spell errors, because browser underlines them instantly, I'd fix grammar errors and may be I would develop some kind of grammar literacy after some time with proper computer assistance.
gruez 6y ago
> The extraneous apostrophe is such a common error as to border on acceptable usage. And that's sad, especially since it leads to more ambiguity in sentences.
- washadjeffmad 6y ago
  I couldn't think of an example that would trip up a native speaker. What was an example you had in mind?
  - hnick 6y ago
    I can think of a few two word statements ("It's tender") but they are meaningless outside of context anyway.

chillacy 6y ago

There are so many non-native speakers of english (owing to it being the current international language) I don't even bother correcting grammar anymore in code comments in pull requests anymore. Unless it's like, user facing or something. But anyways, all the better I suppose to focus on content.

vbezhenar 6y ago
Grammar will be fine when browsers and other tools will implement good grammar checking. I don't understand why browser developers don't focus on it. There are some companies like Grammarly solving that issue, but that should be standard feature rather than paid opt-in. I can translate website in Chrome with a single click, but I can't check grammar. And translation is a really hard task, while grammar is pretty much formalized and could be coded without any AI breakthroughs. I'm not native speaker and my text likely contains a lot of errors. For example I fix spell errors, because browser underlines them instantly, I'd fix grammar errors and may be I would develop some kind of grammar literacy after some time with proper computer assistance.

gruez 6y ago

> The extraneous apostrophe is such a common error as to border on acceptable usage. And that's sad, especially since it leads to more ambiguity in sentences.

washadjeffmad 6y ago
I couldn't think of an example that would trip up a native speaker. What was an example you had in mind?
- hnick 6y ago
  I can think of a few two word statements ("It's tender") but they are meaningless outside of context anyway.