# Writing > General Writing >  Swat this Pest!

## AuntShecky

Long-time NitLetters have often read my complaint that there is only a handful of Americans who know how to use the apostrophe correctly. In most cases, the apostrophe invades words where it doesn't belong, such as in simple plurals or possessive pronouns. Please read and this short article and tell us how we can rid the world of irritating "apostroflies!"






http://grammar.about.com/b/2014/02/1...ophes.htm?nl=1

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## Pompey Bum

Thanks, but where its and it's are concerned, you'll have to tell it to my Ipad. There's little more frustrating than doing something right and having one's technology undo it.  :Banghead:

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## 108 fountains

The rule about forming plurals vs. possessives for regular words is easy and is common sense, and I don't usually see people make those kind of errors.

It get's more complicated when you start talking about dates, and the plurals of abbreviations, numbers and letters. 
From what I understand the correct forms are:
'80s not 80s
1980s not 1980's
Ph.D.'s not Ph.D.s
1s and 2s not 1's and 2's (although better to spell out ones and twos and not one's and two's)
p's and q's not ps and qs
Ps and Qs not P's and Q's

For myself, it all gives sense except forimg the plural of capital letters - S's just seems better to me than Ss. (Although I think it might be acceptable but not preferred to use an apostrophe when forming the plural of capital letters.

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## DATo

i eagerly await the day when the e e cummings system of punctuation will finally be appreciated for what it truly worth

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## AuntShecky

Another pet peeve o' mine is the overuse of the exclamation point. F. Scott Fitzgerald once remarked that using an exclamation point is like laughing at one's own jokes. The only thing worse is a long string of exclamation points. It never ceases to amuse me to see folks wasting space with a long row of this superfluous punctuation on a "tweet," especially when the characters, including spaces, are severely limited. Rule of thumb: Use a "!" only when necessary, and when you do, use only one, as in "Ow!" -- no matter how much it hurts.

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