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Originally Posted by Tdol  ... What is driving the other changes ( approx) is, I believe, quite simply the fact that people write their own letter nowadays and find it easier to save the keystrokes. It's being driven by pragmatics- it's easier not to type the full-stop than to type it; whether you are for or against it is another question, but language will always define itself. My father dictated his letters to his secretary, but I write my own; I think that is the driving force, for better or for worse.  |
Another driver is graphic designers - when I worked for OUP I often had run-ins with designers who thought apostrophes made a title look visually cluttered.
(And in the UK 'there are very good reference guides, like the Chicago Manual of Style and MLA Formatting and Style Guide for technical papers, that provide a point of agreement for writers and proofreaders'. Try Butcher (for CUP style) or
Hart's Rules (for OUP style - combined with
The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors) for example. But as Tdol says,
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Ultimately, people decide what is and is not punctuated.
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If the company you're working for chooses not to use any of the authorities available, get used to it.
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