For some people, punctuation in English might be a fuss over details. For others, it provides vital markers for clear, precise, and eloquent writing.<\/p>\n
For yet others, a missing apostrophe can represent a great expense.<\/p>\n
In October 2020, an Australian man claimed in a Facebook post that a real estate agent did not pay his \u201cemployees\u201d retirement funds, referring to an employer\u2019s contribution to Australia\u2019s retirement system, which includes super accounts for employees. A missing apostrophe in the post could now cost the man as the result of a legal dispute.<\/p>\n
Within the post, Anthony Zadravic of New South Wales appeared to accuse his former employer, Stuart Gan, of not paying retirement funds to all of the agency\u2019s personnel. In dispute is the specific reference to \u201cemployees\u201d:<\/p>\n
\u201cOh Stuart Gan!! Selling multi million $ homes in Pearl Beach but can\u2019t pay his employees superannuation\u2026.Shame on you Stuart!!! 2 yrs and still waiting!!!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Less than 12 hours after the post was published, Mr. Zadravic deleted it; however, Mr. Gan was already aware of the message, and he filed a defamation suit against Zadravic.<\/p>\n
A judge in New South Wales has subsequently ruled that the lack of an apostrophe on the word \u201cemployees\u201d could be interpreted as a \u201csystematic pattern of conduct\u201d by Mr. Gan\u2019s agency rather than as an accusation involving one employee.<\/p>\n
On that basis, she has allowed the case to proceed, citing in her statement:<\/p>\n
“\u200b\u200bThe difficulty for the plaintiff is the use of the word ’employees’ in the plural. To fail to pay one employee’s superannuation entitlement might be seen as unfortunate; to fail to pay some or all of them looks deliberate.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Apostrophe Basics<\/h2>\n
While we ponder how much a punctuation mark the size of a pinhead can cost, we can also review some fundamentals of the apostrophe.<\/p>\n
1) In English we use the apostrophe to indicate the possessive case, mark omissions in contracted words or numerals, and form certain plurals.<\/p>\n