8th grade education

[Frank&Earnest]

I tend to punctuate English as I'd speak it.....if a pause is in order then so too is an apostrophe.

... why did you use an ellipsis, then?

[kiwigeo]

... why did you use an ellipsis, then?

The full stop key on my keyboard is sticky

[Carry Pine]

Frank and Ernest,

I think we all know the English is 90+% convention. That is, what is said , goes. It's irritating for those of a previous generation and for those who believe in absolutes. Spelling just goes with (wif) the flow.
Re the marking of exam papers that I mentioned BST and NAPLAN. A classic case is in the marking scale for Narrative writing. Under the old NSW testing program (BST) we had a marking scale and you could teach the kids to write to a formula. A moderator probably devised that marking scale! (Well we often wondered who did!) And it was right and no one could argue. That is until the Commonwealth took over the testing program (NAPLAN) and there was a different marking scale. This one included marks for 'engaging the reader'. Sounds fair enough. Who wants to read crap in a narrative even if the grammar is all correct. And what's worse is: there is no one way to engage a reader. So suddenly the rules of writing narratives have changed. (Sentences don't need full stops either).
Why am I saying all this? That's right, there was discussion about commas apostrophes and so on. We may get upset when we see the signs ' Fish and Chip's' but in 50 years no one will care or even remember.
Give them a sentence and ask them to put in the punctuation- you wish!

Graham

[Frank&Earnest]

I am sure nobody cares even now, why wait 50 years?

My question, given that it is all about convention as you agree it is, was only whether anybody could provide a reliable assessment of where the convention sits in 2010.

You seem to accept that nobody cares enough about that either, therefore everybody can pass ignorance as openness of mind.

BTW, I'm earnest but do not have a multiple personality disorder.

[RETIRED]

A moderator probably devised that marking scale! (Well we often wondered who did!)

Ah well, it should work well then.

[Carry Pine]

Ah well, it should work well then.

It did work well. But a different government took over the tests. Then the rules changed.
I'm going to stop now.

Graham