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A defender of the [use / used] of the apostrophe has quit his decades-long battle for the correct use of the punctuation [slash / mark] . John Richards, 96, was chairman of the Apostrophe Protection Society, which was [establishment / established] in 2001 to campaign to encourage better [writing / written] and understanding of the [purpose / porpoise] of the apostrophe. Mr Richards wrote on the society's website: "Fewer organisations and [individual / individuals] are now caring about the correct use of the apostrophe [on / in] the English language. We, and our many supporters [worldly / worldwide] , have done our best but the ignorance and laziness present in modern [time / times] have won." He added: "Over the years we have heard from thousands of supporters all over the world...but the [barbarity / barbarians] have won."

Mr Richards started the society after seeing the "same [mistaken / mistakes] over and over again". He wanted to [highlight / lowlight] people's mistakes and get people to end the misuse of [the / an] apostrophe. He said he hoped half a dozen people would join him in his [quest / question] , but was [heartened / threatened] by the support he received worldwide. He received 500 letters from all over the world within a month [off / of] starting the website. Mr Richards' biggest [pork / beef] was not people misusing the apostrophe, but people not using it at all. He called [in / out] big companies for this. In the UK, companies like Lloyds Bank and the bookstore Waterstones [dispensed / recompensed] with the apostrophe in their names. Maybe Mr Richards was happy with the burger [chain / sequence] McDonald's.