In the <a href="http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/~eklanche/archives/2006/11/isolation.html#comments">absence</a> of the ability to make long-distance phone calls (which, by the way, I have rectified), my dad and I communicated more by email than we usually do. This correspondence was difficult for him, however, because his <a href="https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=mail&passive=true&rm=false&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%2Fmail%2F%3Fui%3Dhtml%26zy%3Dl<mpl=m_wsad<mplcache=2">email provider</a> doesn't always let him use apostrophes! I was at first appalled when he told me about this state of affairs. How can one write without apostrophes? Granted, my students do it all the time (and sometimes I wish they didn't have access to apostrophes because when they do use them they often put them in the wrong place), but it would require a whole different tone of writing. Possessives would be much more cumbersome. Instead of saying that I'm going to David's mom's house for Thanksgiving dinner, I would have to say that I am going to the home of the mother of my fiance. What a mouthful! But then I started thinking that it might be a fun exercise to have to make do without one form of punctuation or another. It would certainly force me to change up my writing style. I think the one I would miss the most is the semicolon; even though it is a totally unnecessary form of punctuation, I use it all the time! When I said this to my dad, he replied that he would just give up writing altogether if he couldn't use semicolons; he just loves them that much. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
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