Apostrophes are popping up everywhere, especially in simple plural nouns. The practice of adding unnecessary apostrophes is so common in display signage for fruits and vegetables that it has come to be known, at least in the United Kingdom, as the greengrocer’s apostrophe. We think the proliferation of apostrophes is similar to that of commas – people don’t know where to put them and figure more is better. But it’s not. Use apostrophes only to form possessives (the apple’s core) or contractions (the apple’s rotten).