Apostrophe abuse

Plural

Never use an apostrophe to make more than one of something, unless that word is already plural. You can have one apple or many apples, but not many apple’s, and you can take many children to a children’s library. If you feed them apples, be sure to get the librarian’s permission.

Possession

Use an apostrophe to show something that belongs to something else. The apple’s skin means the skin of one apple. If you have more than one apple, put the apostrophe on the other side: The apple’s skin (one), or the apples’ skins (many).

Contraction

When combining words, use an apostrophe to fill the hole where letters dropped out, like this: