The Grammar Guru: Overuse of apostrophes

The Grammar Guru can't imagine not following grammar rules.
The Grammar Guru can't imagine not following grammar rules.

Mekita Rivas, SNR communications associate, publishes a biweekly feature called "Grammar Guru."

Every other week, the Grammar Guru will share writing tips to help make your work as polished as possible. Some of these tips may address common spelling errors, while others will examine the many nuances of the English language.

Grammar Guru Tip #36
Apostrophes indicate one of three things: Possession, contractions and when letters are missing from a word, as in "Dad's iPad," can't (a contraction that joins "can" and "not") and "ma'am” (instead of madam – the "d" is omitted).

Apostrophes don't belong on plurals. When you have more than one of something, there's no need to add an apostrophe. Same thing with last names.

Example:
My car is in the shop, so we can't drive it. We can drive my sister's car to visit the Smiths tomorrow.

Pro tip: Years also shouldn't have apostrophes. For instance, "1960s" is correct but "1960's" is not.

Need some grammar guidance? The UNL Style Guide (http://unlcms.unl.edu/ucomm/styleguide/) is a great resource for all university employees. If you have writing questions that the style guide doesn't answer, feel free to email the Grammar Guru at mrivas@unl.edu.