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Use the apostrophe (or the apostrophe and the letter s):

1. To form the possessive case of common and proper nouns: e.g., The nation’s {19} hope; For Jesus’ sake; James’s apple; For appearance’ sake; The boys’ camp.

2. To form the plural of numerals, but the apostrophe alone for the plural of polysyllabic proper nouns ending in a sibilant: e.g., They passed by in two’s and four’s; She is one of those W.C.T.U.’s; That came from Perkins’. Add es or s for monosyllabic proper nouns: e.g., The Fosses. In general, the pronunciation may be taken as a guide: if it is necessary to add a syllable to pronounce the possessive, use the double s: e.g., Sickles’ corps, not Sickles’s.

3. Use the apostrophe to indicate the omission of one or more letters in a contracted word, or the omission of figures in a number: e.g., That’s ’ow ’twas; The spirit of ’76; High o’er our heads; I’ll for I will; Don’t for do not, sha’n’t, etc.

4. The custom of substituting the apostrophe for the letter e in poetry, at one time common, is now obsolete: e.g., At ev’ry word a reputation dies. This rule is disregarded when the letter is omitted for metrical reasons.