ABSTRACT
When writers omit apostrophes and hyphens where they are needed, it may be due to uncertainty, such as about where to place an apostrophe to show possession. Possessives are difficult enough when the noun is regular and singular, but what happens if the noun is irregular and plural or ends in an s? And since the hyphen is used infrequently, it too is often omitted when needed, such as for compound modifiers and even phone numbers.
