[MRM]

If Tabs is your proper name the title of this thread should be Tabs' Isolated View of the World. If you prefer "Tab" and the "s" is just a meaningless affectation, then it would be correct to us "Tab's".

The key is that the apostrophe indicates the possessive: More than one Tab are Tabs. Something Tab owns (such as his vintage Mercedes SL, Mustang or xenophobic viewpoint) is Tab's. If Tabs owns the Merc, Mustang or viewpoint, it is Tabs'.

Think of 's as a contraction - it means Tab has (Tab's Mercedes = Tab has a Mercedes). S' means the word ended with an s, so Tabs has = Tabs'. So, "Tab's xenophobic viewpoint is typically American," is correct if you are talking about something Tab believes. "Tabs' Mustang is nice, if you're into unsophisticated American muscle cars," is correct if you are talking about a singular Tabs. (Tabs' Ford Mustang is cheap American iron is also grammatically correct).

Remember, "you're" is a contraction for "you are". "Your" means something that belongs to you. If saying "you are" doesn't make sense when you write "you're", then you mean to say "your".

Unless you use the words in a title, capitalize only proper nouns. Don't capitalize words like "Far Eastern" and "Globalization" for emphasis or because you think they are particularly important - if it's not a proper noun, don't capitalize it. In titles, capitalize the first letter of the first word, even if the first word is "A" "The" or "And". After the first word, capitalize everything except small words such as "a," "the," or "and".

Remember these simple rules and you are well on your way toward world domination, or at least being able to communicate to your readers what you mean without the reader having to struggle with your language and guess what you mean. Then the next time you chastise a poster for not having given your language the literal meaning you intended, your criticism will be well taken. Until then, please don't abuse your readers' (remember the possessive of plural has the apostrophe after the s) eyes (plural without a possessive) with random capitalizations, interchangeable "yours" and you’re and possessive plurals that have more to do with a half ripe kumquat than an unrefined gerund.