July 17, 2011Dear Sir,Each morning, as I make my way to work, I pass a sign on East Broadway. The sign is aimed at educating the populace on preventing the spread of HIV. Unfortunately, the sign sends an inappropriate and dangerous message. In the first half of the message, the sign encourages readers to “Know your HIV status”. Generally speaking, this is very good advice and a suggestion everyone should heed. I take exception to the second half of the message, which reads: “Know your partners.” While this is also excellent advice, in terms of impact on preventing the spread of HIV, I question the effectiveness of being acquainted with your partners. It is not enough to be acquainted with the person or persons with whom you are intimately acquainted. One should also be aware of the HIV status of all partners.Of course, perhaps the authors of the sign intended to use the possessive form of the word “partner” rather than the plural form of the word “partner.” I suspect the sign is advocating knowing the HIV status of your partner, in which case the possessive form of “partner” should have been used. The sign should read: “Know your HIV status; know your partner’s” (or if targeting the promiscuous, perhaps the sign should read, “Know your HIV status; know your partners’.”) No matter the placement, an apostrophe seems to have been omitted from the message. Remember: punctuation saves lives. Anyone who doubts this should consider these two phrases: “Let’s eat grandma” and “Let’s eat, grandma”.ANDREW WOODWORTHPaget