'Fess Up

Rex Smith, a former colleague at Newsday and now editor of the Albany Times Union, takes on improper plurals, corrections and the need to acknowledge errors.

I must tell you right up front that it's perfectly clear to me -- and by now to every copy editor on our staff -- that you do not create a plural in the English language by adding an apostrophe. The six-column headline on Page D3 Friday -- "Candidate's paper over early sign flap" -- was a mistake.