Let's Make November 'Punctuation Abuse Month'

Poor apostrophe.

So misunderstood. So misused and abused.

Mose has seen several abuses lately.

A criminal was said to have offenses dating back to the 70's and 80's.

The Jones cousins were referred to in the plural as the Jones'.

The cartoon strip Overboard had pirates discussing "putting fear in peoples' hearts."

One at a time:

1) In contractions, put the apostrophe where stuff is missing, e.g., can't has an apostrophe where we removed no.

So those decades are the '70s and '80s, with the apostrophe filling in for the missing 19.

2) The apostrophe does not often form plurals, even if that sign above your neighbor's mailbox says The Smith's. You have one Jones and two Joneses. 

Apostrophes do form of plurals with letters of the alphabet: She learned her ABC's, and The report card was all D's and F's (probably studying punctuation).

3) People, like men and women, is a plural noun. Form the plural possessive by adding ’s.

Most people don't understand apostrophes, but journalists should.

Any grammar book can help. And the AP Stylebook has a good tutorial in its punctuation section toward the back of the book.

Mose recommends it highly.