Make Us Plural

Often, we find it difficult to know when to use an apostrophe. Remember, if a word is merely plural, you won't need an apostrophe. But if it's showing possession, then an apostrophe would be appropriate. However, even that can be tricky. So goes the English language.

Just as a tip to begin with, if you can place the word "of" and it make sense, often that means you need to show an apostrophe. Example: The dog's hair is uncontrollable. The hair of the dog is uncontrollable. Or you could say, The uncontrollable hair belongs to the dog. Both would show the dog's possession of uncontrollable hair.

How would you make the following surnames plural? Not possessive, but plural. Test yourself and find the answers at the end of this article.

1. Samples
2. Warren
3. Loy
4. Drox
5. Manly
6. Granger
7. Knight
8. Cross
9. Noble
10. Panara

Plural spellings of names-proper nouns/people: Which of the following are correct?

1. Griffith: Merry Christmas from the Griffith’s

2. Williams: Merry Christmas from the Williams’

3. Griffiths: Merry Christmas from the Griffiths

4. Williams: Merry Christmas from the Williamses

5. Griffiths: Merry Christmas from the Griffiths’

6. Williams: Merry Christmas from the Williamses’

ANSWER: Only numbers three and four are correct.

• The first two examples are wrong for two reasons. First, the apostrophe makes the names possessive, and when we send family greetings, the greetings are from us, not from something we possess. The names “Smith” and “Williams” would need to be in the possessive case only if the greetings were from Will Smith’s dog or Bryan Williams’s horse (singular possessive).


• Second, they are wrong because they are singular. The greeting is supposed to be from the entire family, not from an individual. Yet when we place the apostrophe where it is in examples one and two, we have made a singular word possessive instead of making it plural.


• Another example: If their last name was William. It would be, The Williams wish you a Happy Day. Plural possession would be: Mr. William's dog wishes you a Happy Day!

Note: Though it is not acceptable in all codes of proper grammar, you may see adding an apostrophe to a name that ends in s for plural possession. Example: Charles' dog is barking. More acceptable in grammar is: Charles's dog just stopped barking.

Numbers three and four are correct because in both cases the words are plural but are not made possessive. To form the plural of any name that does not end in s or another sibilant (more on sibilants below), we simply add an s. Thus the name "Griffith" becomes Griffiths.

"Williams" is a little tougher because it ends with an s.

Names (and all other words, for that matter) that end with the sounds s, sh, ch, z, or x (what we call sibilants) are made plural by the addition of es. Thus, the name “Williams” in its plural form is "Williamses".

Here are some examples. These names end in sibilants and are thus made plural by adding es:

Happy Easter from the Bushes (plural form of the name Bush).

Happy Easter from the Churches (plural form of the name Church).

Happy Easter from the Joneses (plural form of the name Jones).

Happy Easter from the Foxes (plural form of the name Fox).

The following surnames do not end in sibilants and are thus made plural simply by adding s:

Happy holidays from the Johnsons (plural form of the name Johnson).

Happy holidays from the Chadleys (plural form of the name Chadley).

Happy holidays from the Terrys (plural form of the name Terry).

NOTE: Do NOT drop the "y" and add "ies" to proper names.

Easier Option!
Of course, after all this detail, another option would be to avoid both the plural and the possessive by writing “Happy Easter from the Bush family".

At another time, we may discuss situations in which the apostrophe should be used with names in order to show possession. But for now, remember that when greetings are from the entire family, the name needs to be plural, not possessive.

****I revised some of the above by changing names, and grammar that was incorrect from the original site.

Click here for source

Also, click here for the legit site called Get It Right.

Answers To First Quiz
1. Samples: The Sampleses
2. Warren: The Warrens
3. Loy: The Loys
4. Drox: The Droxes
5. Manly: The Manlys
6. Granger: The Grangers
7. Knight: The Knights
8. Cross: The Crosses
9. Noble: The Nobles
10. Panara: The Panaras

Click here for a link that will be helpful as well.
Copyright © 2008 by Write Memories 4 Life. All rights reserved.