Apostrophes are tricky things for many people. I see them
misused all the time—in blog posts, press releases, marketing
materials, etc. Though you might think a misused apostrophe is
nothing to summon the grammar police over, I beg to differ.
Misusing an apostrophe can change the meaning of words and even
an entire sentence, and it just matters. Now, before I go over
some of the most common apostrophe mistakes, allow me to give a
brief lesson on the primary functions of apostrophes: (1)
Apostrophes are used to indicate missing letters in
contractions. For example can't is short for cannot. Don't is
short for do not. It's is short for it is. You get the point.
(2) Apostrophes are also used to show possession/ownership or
relationship. For example, the boy's shoes or the president's
wife. So, now that we've discussed the main uses of apostrophes,
let's talk about some mistakes to avoid when using them. Mistake
No. 1: Using apostrophes to make a word plural It's not raining
cat's and dog's, it's raining cats and