Henceforth, I will share my acute and capacious superpowers foisted upon me by Mom (worked for Merriam-Webster as a proofreader) and Ang (who could complete the NYT Crossword in a day), and the years of research and learning stuff and “Looking Things Up.”
I will share my experiences … Spelling, Proofreading, Editing, Writing, Apostrophes, Grammar, and English. “SpewagE.” I capped the last E because that’s how the art came out.
Easy Plurals, Easy Apostrophes
Social Networking Yuckies
Over the last couple of years, I’ve seen more and more misuse of the apostrophe in plurals, especially on social networking posts.
Plurals are simple (for the most part). Here are a handful:
Cats
Dogs
Scientists
Doctors
Nurses
So, if you have one cat, you can have two cats, three cats, and so on.
If you trust a scientist, then you can also trust two scientists, three scientists (and you can trust Dr. Fauci, too!).
Apostrophes in Plurals
Plural’s do not need apostrophe’s. (Ew!)
Wrong – Mistake’s are being made.
Correct – Mistakes are being made.
Plurals do not need apostrophes. (Good!)
Apostrophes in Possessives
Now, this is where you need apostrophes – in possessives.
The cat’s whiskers
The dog’s tail
The scientist’s research
The doctor’s white coat
The nurse’s stethoscope
* * *
Any questions?
Karen R. Sanderson 
Please comment on plural possessives. Also on the new advice that if we’re referring to the 1800s, we no longer use an apostrophe (1800’s) unless it is possessive and we’re discussing the year 1800’s fashion trends. Sigh…
Excellent question – let me have a confab with MY editor.
Chatted with my editor yesterday, and she and I agree…
If you say something like “My great-grandfather was born in the 1800s.” – no apostrophe
If you say something like “The 1800’s period dress was heavy and dark.” – apostrophe