That title was a sign on a faculty door in the Texas A&M University English department when I worked there (was it yours, Anita?), and it said everything worth saying about the daily classroom wars over correct English. These days, I tell my students that I know the battle over the apostrophe will be lost, but I will fight it to the grave. Now the world as we knew it has ended.
The Billings Blog
"Our aim, to swat liars and leeches, hypocrites & humbugs, demagogs & dastards" — The Yellow Jacket Moravian Falls, N.C., 1919
No, David, the sign wasn’t on my door. I’m a forgiving grammarian when it comes to the adverbs “hopefully” and “literally” being used as adjectives in casual conversation and writing. However, I have little patience for incorrect apostrophe usage, and it always gives me a little pleasure to see someone use the possessive correctly with a gerund. And I don’t see why some grammarians–such as my otherwise wonderful history professor at Texas A&M–object to beginning a sentence occasionally with a conjunction.
Sadly, however, I don’t always use the possessive correctly with a gerund, either.