A NINE-YEAR-OLD schoolgirl found 15 examples of the incorrect use of apostrophes during a 15-minute walk in Keighley.

As part of a school project, Ammarah Mahmood, who is deaf, wandered around the market and surrounding area looking for mistakes – specifically the 'apostrophe-S' – on signage.

And the youngster, a pupil at Swain House Primary School in Bradford, was shocked at what she found.

The errors she spotted included: Banana’s; Happy Holiday’s; No Drink’s Allowed in Shop; Pie’s, Pasty’s, Sandwich’s and Cakes; DVD’s; Customers For Taxi’s Please Wait Here; Toilet’s and Open Sunday’s.

Her teacher, Sarah Rothera, who teaches deaf children at the school in Radcliffe Avenue, said there was a mixture of professional 'screwed on' signs, neon signs and hand-written ones.

“We were shocked when Ammarah brought her pictures in,” said Sarah. “We were shocked at the blatant misuse of apostrophes.

“The incorrect use does annoy me, and it is shocking how many she found in such a short space of time.

“She just walked round for 15 minutes. She was saying they need to go back to college!

“She was also saying ‘these are adults. I am deaf and I am nine and I know the correct way to use them’.”

Sarah added: “My favourite one is the ‘Pie’s, Pasty’s, Sandwich’s and Cakes’ one. Why haven’t they put an apostrophe in cakes, even though they have put ones in the others?”

Ammarah’s class has been doing work on grammar and punctuation and was set a challenge to photograph pictures of any examples they could find.

Sarah explained: “I have been teaching the children about the use of apostrophe-S for possession. As a follow-up task, I asked the children to take photographs of where they see the use of apostrophe-S in the local environment.

“What was amazing about Ammarah is she was genuinely shocked and wanted us to teach everyone in Bradford district about how to use apostrophe-S for possession. The photographs she took are both amusing and shocking.”

Sarah added: “With the new curriculum, there is a huge push for grammar and punctuation, and it starts at a much younger age now.

“I took in a Slimming World banner with ‘Thursday’s’ on it and asked the children to spot the error.”

* Have you spotted examples of apostrophe misuse? Email a photo, with brief details of the sign's location, to alistair.shand@keighleynews.co.uk