I have another confession to make: I am a grammar snob. I don’t care if I am reading on teh intarwebz, if you claim to be a professional writer or to run a professional web site, I willthink less of you if I see major and repetitive grammar errors in your articles, blogs, and tweets. I care about spelling and punctuation, too.
My current pet peeve: writers who misuse possessives in the place of plurals. In other words: Put that apostrophe down if you don’t know how to use it!
With very few specific exceptions, ‘s attached to a noun denotes the possessive, NOT the plural. That is, if you mean “more than one of,” do not use an apostrophe. If you mean “belongs to,” add the apostrophe.
Simple Good Example:
Oranges cost $1 each.
Do Not Use:
Orange’s cost $1 each.
Complex Good Example:
That MILF’s boobs are huge!
Do Not Use:
That MILFs boob’s are huge!
Never, for any reason, use ‘s with a verb. If the verb form or tense you are using ends in s, write a punctuation-free word.
Correct Example:
Social media helps people waste whole workdays.
Do Not Use:
Social media help’s people waste whole workdays.
In doubt about using an apostrophe? Then don’t. It’s probably not necessary. And you’ll look less dumb omitting it; a missed apostrophe can be a typo, but one added where it doesn’t belong is a mistake.