The abuse of the apostrophe is a well known, but little understood phenomenon. Most times people don't even realise that what they are doing is wrong. Sure, it may look good and it may even be used in mainstream society, but it isn't right!
There are a few simple rules that can help you get to know your apostrophe friend a little better:
- "its" is possessive. Example: This node needs you to vote its rep up! You see, the node owns its (see, I did it again) rating.
- "it's" is a contraction. Example: It's going to be really hard to get a positive rating for this node if I screw up the grammar. "It's" can always be written for what it is short for: it is.
- No apostrophes for plurality. Example: The author of this node wishes she had more DVDs. DVDs is plural, but we don't use the apostophe here.