In the comments of our Word Fact post about the difference between affect and effect, Carolyn K. wrote:
Please, please, please, I beg you to do Lets vs. 尝别迟鈥檚. Every sports team鈥檚 media/PR department does it wrong, and it drives me absolutely out of my mind!
This lets us address another great topic, since these terms are often confused鈥攍et’s figure it out!
Lets without an apostrophe is the third-person singular form of the verb let, meaning 鈥渢o allow or permit鈥�: She lets the dog out every morning.
尝别迟鈥檚 with an apostrophe is a contraction of 鈥渓et us,鈥� which is used in all varieties of speech and writing to introduce a suggestion or request: Let us consider all the facts. Because 鈥渓et us鈥� often sounds overly formal, the contracted form, 濒别迟鈥檚 occurs more frequently in colloquial speech and writing: 尝别迟鈥檚 go, Tigers! 尝别迟鈥檚 forget this ever happened.
Sometimes you鈥檒l see redundancy with the use of 濒别迟鈥檚: 尝别迟鈥檚 you and me get out of here. This, of course, literally means, 鈥淟et us you and me get out of here.鈥� If 鈥測ou and me鈥� is treated as an aside here, it can function to elaborate on the subject for emphasis and clarification. However, if not treated as an aside, the above example would be considered nonstandard English.
Whether it鈥檚 intentional or not, the fact remains the same: 濒别迟鈥檚 and lets are commonly misunderstood. 尝别迟鈥檚 be kind to those that make encouraging signs, and we’ll double check our apostrophe use the next time we鈥檙e cheering for our favorite team.聽尝别迟鈥檚 go, grammar lovers!
