Ok, I know it's not that important and there are far more important things in the world but I have to say it.
Please don't use apostrophes in plurals! It's wrong and it hurts!
Apologies in advance for this. I know English isn't everyone's first language and I'm not attacking anyone, but apostrophes in plurals really get to me!
Guide to apostrophe use (from
The Apostrophe Protection Society homepage)
The rules concerning the use of Apostrophes in written English are very simple:
1. They are used to denote a missing letter or letters, for example:
I can't instead of
I cannot
I don't instead of
I do not
it's instead of
it is
2. They are used to denote possession, for example:
the dog's bone
the company's logo
Jones's bakery (but
Joneses' bakery if owned by more than one Jones)
... but please note that the possessive form of it does not take an apostrophe any more than
ours, yours or
hers do.
the bone is in its mouth
... however, if there are two or more dogs, companies or Joneses in our example, the apostrophe comes after the 's':
the dogs' bones
the companies' logos
Joneses' bakeries
3. Apostrophes are NEVER ever used to denote plurals! Common examples of such abuse (all seen in real life!) are:
Banana's for sale which of course should read
Bananas for sale
Menu's printed to order which should read
Menus printed to order
MOT's at this garage which should read
MOTs at this garage
1000's of bargains here! which should read
1000s of bargains here!
New CD's just in! which should read
New CDs just in!
Buy your Xmas tree's here! which should read
Buy your Xmas trees here!
Note: Special care must be taken over the use of your and you're as they sound the same but are used quite differently:
your is possessive as in this is your pen
you're is short for you are as in you're coming over to my house
