Editash says...-The apostrophe syndrome

Today's dose of language nuggets is not a word as per the norm. Today, I would like to address what I call the apostrophe syndrome! This is a very common syndrome where people always feel the need to put an apostrophe every time they write the letter 's'. 

I have seen that a lot and if you are honest with yourself as you read this, you know you have seen it too! I once saw an advert written 'Tomatoe's for sale!'   What exactly was the use of the apostrophe there? The apostrophe syndrome! Apostrophes do not make words plurals!An apostrophe is a punctuation mark that is used: 

1. To indicate the omission of words

2. To indicate possession

1. To indicate omission of words.

Omission of words are a very popular style of writing in casual set-ups, for example, instead of saying she is going to town, one would use the apostrophe to say that she's going to town. Instead of I have a car ,I've a car.

2. To indicate possession.

An apostrophe followed by an 's' are used to indicate possession, for example Mufaro has a cat so the cat is Mufaro's. Mufaro's cat. Jane's dog. Ben's bicycle.Where the noun already ends with an 's'. There is no need to put another 's' after the apostrophe. You just need to add the apostrophe at the end of the noun. For example, Charles Dickens is an author. When referring to his novel, Charles Dickens's novel would be wrong whereas Charles Dickens' novel would be correct. There is no need to add another 's' as his name already ends with an 's.'