For instance:
How to win friend's and influence people
is incorrect, because of the apostrophe (as may seem obvious). So is:
How to win friends and influence people?
because of the question mark (though I'm not sure how obvious that is). If you really wanted to find out how one may learn the art of winning friends and influencing people, you should ask:
How does one win friends and influence people?
If you wanted to phrase that as a request, instead of a question, you should say:
Please tell me how to win friends and influence people.
Clearly, we don't seem to be teaching the language with as much rigour as we used to. It may be OK for the hoi polloi to make these mistakes, but I really wince when I see such appalling neglect and decline in writing and editing standards, as brought home by the output of several copywriters, reporters, columnists, editors, authors and others who earn a living out of their (professed) proficiency with the written word.
