I must admit to spotting these things as you do but I don’t let them spoil my day. Such errors tend to produce a wry smile and sometimes a soupcon of smugness (aliteration overload!) – the result of me knowing something they don’t. But I wouldn’t go to the extreme of never visiting the store ever again just because of their sloppy use of language and grammer.

The function of the sign on the market stall isn’t to indicate the stall holder’s literacy or proficiency with the English language. I really don’t care whether he or she is selling apples, apples’ or apple’s – what I am really interested in is the price. Now if the sign says “Apples – 44″ – there is a huge problem. Is that per kilo, per pound or each? This is poor communication and may well prompt me to go to another stall – or possibly Sainsburys (they sell these fantastic desert apples!).

There are instances when precise grammer is hugely important and extra care should be taken – mainly when you’re proportioning responsibility and blame! But you shouldn’t overlook that very few people ‘read’ everything – people scan. They hop over points of grammer, skip punctuation, leap over words, vault sentences and tunnel under paragraphs.

Do I have to plug my blog now?