On 20-May-10, at 2:41 PM, Kathy Hanbury wrote:

> The biggest problem that I see with the usability of this site is  
> the content. For example, basic punctuation errors are distracting  
> and negatively impact understanding (neither "freinds" [sic] nor  
> "contacts" need an apostrophe in the first sentence).

Not sure about that. These are possessives, so an apostrophe is  
needed in both cases. Of course it makes a difference whether you  
mean just one friend or contact, or multiple friends or contacts  
whether the apostrophes go before or after the "s" in each word.

Here's more on this (besides Rule 1 in Strunk and White, which is the  
definitive source):

	open.salon.com/blog/cranky_cuss/2010/04/21/ 
obituary_the_apostrophe_age_unknown

and from an old (1985) Dave Barry column:

Q:  What is the purpose of the apostrophe?

A:  The apostrophe is used mainly in hand-lettered small business signs
to alert the reader than an "S" is coming up at the end of a word, as
in: WE DO NOT EXCEPT PERSONAL CHECK'S, or: NOT RESPONSIBLE
FOR ANY ITEM'S.  Another important grammar concept to bear in mind when
creating hand-lettered small-business signs is that you should put  
quotation
marks around random words for decoration, as in "TRY" OUR HOT DOG'S,
or even TRY "OUR" HOT DOG'S.