[stylist] grammatical usage of apostrophes

Thu Feb 16 00:24:58 UTC 2012

I know for sure that if you're talking about someone named Chris, 
you say Chris's house
I think "Smith family house" is kind of weird phrasing.
Vejas

 ----- Original Message -----
From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:21:53 -0500
Subject: Re: [stylist] grammatical usage of apostrophes

This is where it gets tricky, and Lori would know better, but 
there's a
difference between the Smith family house and the Smiths' house.  
Personally,
I try to avoid that one.  The Smith house works as does the Smith 
family's
house.
Donna

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org 
[mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Lynda Lambert
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 5:59 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] grammatical usage of apostrophes

not unless it is the
Smiths family  who own the house rather than the Smith family.  
The way you
used the apostrophe indicates that the last letter of the word is 
S.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Barbara Hammel" <poetlori8 at msn.com
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 2:30 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] grammatical usage of apostrophes

 But you would use the apostrophe if you said the Smiths' house 
is the
 second on the left, wouldn't you?
 Barbara

 Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.  -- Carl Sandburg
 -----Original Message-----
 From: loristay at aol.com
 Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 10:25 AM
 To: stylist at nfbnet.org
 Subject: [stylist] grammatical usage of apostrophes

 This is a technical answer to a question no one has asked, but 
it's
 nagging to be answered anyway.

 Simple plurals do not take apostrophe s.  The apostrophe for the 
most part

 indicates possession or the dropping of a letter.  For example, 
do not
 becomes don't.  But if we are talking about a family, say, the 
Smiths,
 then there is no apostrophe.  Mr.  Smith, of the Boston Smiths ( 
S m i t h
 s), will be visiting the New York area shortly.

 In some areas, the possessive is built into the word.  So for 
example, His

 bed means the bed belongs to him, and no apostrophe is 
necessary.  The bed

 is hers--now it belongs to her, but still takes no apostrophe.  
The word
 "its" (i t s) meaning something belongs to "it" such as -- the 
dog dropped

 its ball--takes no apostrophe.  The apostrophe in the word 
"it's" (i t '
 s) means that the word is short for "it is."

 (apologies ahead to dog lovers who object to the objectification 
of the
 dog.)
 Yours grammatically,
 Lori
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