Public Service Announcement

This is not a dietary post. It is a public service announcement. I think that we need to have a little lesson on the use of the apostrophe. (' for those of you who do not know what an apostrophe is). The apostrophe is quite possibly the most over used and abused punctuation mark in the universe. The apostrophe SHOULD be used for the following purposes:

1. To show ownership or possession of something.

Examples: Carter's blanket.

The Holt's table.

The team's trophy.

Three girls' purses.

Note: Apostrophes are not necessary when using words that naturally imply possession. For example, hers, not her's.

2. In contractions such as these:

Are not = Aren't

Is not = Isn't

She is = She's

APOSTROPHES ARE NOT NEEDED WHEN AN 'S' IS ADDED TO A WORD TO MAKE THE WORD PLURAL!!!

Example:

Incorrect: The Holt's are coming to dinner.

Correct: The Holts are coming to dinner.

or a trickier one...

Incorrect: The Harris' are coming to dinner.

Correct: The Harrises are coming to dinner.

Also Correct: Belle is the Harrises' dog.

One more grammar tip for the day: alot is not a word. The correct way to say you have a lot of something is with two words...a and lot.