A  of the use of the apostrophe has quit his decades-long  for the  use of the punctuation mark. John Richards, 96, was  of the Apostrophe Protection Society, which was established in 2001 to campaign to encourage  writing and understanding of the  of the apostrophe. Mr Richards wrote on the society's website: "Fewer organisations and  are now caring about the correct use of the apostrophe in the English language. We, and our many  worldwide, have done our best but the ignorance and laziness present in modern  have won." He added: "Over the years we have heard from thousands of supporters all over the world...but the  have won."
Mr Richards started the  after seeing the "same mistakes over and over again". He wanted to highlight people's  and get people to end the misuse of the apostrophe. He said he hoped half a  people would join him in his quest, but was heartened by the support he received . He received 500  from all over the world within a  of starting the website. Mr Richards' biggest  was not people misusing the apostrophe, but people not using it at all. He called out big  for this. In the UK, companies like Lloyds Bank and the bookstore Waterstones dispensed with the apostrophe in their . Maybe Mr Richards was happy with the burger  McDonald's.