Apostrophes

Despite people speaking English for centuries, the usage of apostrophes is still a hot topic. The apostrophe is a tiny stroke that is a part of a word to indicate possessive case, contractions, or omitted letters.

Thank Goodness some of the most difficult languages like Russian or Chinese don't have apostrophes. There is such misuse of them in English, some examples are so appalling, that they look funny. The sad thing is they appear or, for that matter, are missing from prominent public signs. 

Apostrophes are, in fact, so easy to use. There are only a few rules for using them. Apostrophes for omission show where something, usually a letter, has been missed out to create a contraction. For example, "let's" rather than "let us".

All singular nouns, regardless of what letter they end in, need ‘s to make possessive. This rule works for the names too. The only exception is Jesus. So whether your name is Hopkins, Jenkins or Anastassiss you still have to add "`s" in the possessive form.

Using an unnecessary apostrophe to form the plural of a noun is a very common mistake. Usually, this type of mistake could be spotted in grocery stores (two pineapple's for the price of 1!). It does not make nouns plural and looks strange.

Most plurals already end in (s). We can think of a plural as a person who is already carrying too many bags and can not hold anything else. So we just put an apostrophe at the end of the word to show that all of those things belong to them.

Boys' toys; parents' house; teachers' parking