Mid Devon District Council leaders have been forced to reconsider banning the apostrophe from street signs in the area.
Plain English Campaign was swift to praise the council for its ‘brave’ decision to reconsider the issue.
‘It‘s a victory for common sense,’ claimed jubilant Plain English Campaign founder Chrissie Maher. ‘You do have to question the good sense of anyone who thinks that confusion can be avoided by messing around with the rules of our language.’
Campaign supporters had feared this would be the ‘thin end of the wedge’ and that standards of punctuation might come under a general attack if this went unchallenged.
Chrissie Maher, who received the OBE for her work in promoting plain language, encouraged anyone who felt unsure about apostrophes to look at the ‘Using apostrophes’ free guide on the free guides page of Plain English Campaign’s website.
She was also full of praise for the media in providing the opportunity for people to discuss this matter. ‘The interest in this situation right the way across the country shows how passionate people are about the language. You mess with it at your peril.’
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