Quote:
Originally posted by lakee911
Is that really wrong? I would take it be like, ''The Smith's place'' and place is implied. It's kind of like, "I'm going down to the Smith's." What if there was only one guy there, it's still Smith's house, no? What do others think?
Jason
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If you said "I'm going down to the Smith's." that would be incorrect because you are using the PLURAL of Smith. You would be going to the Smiths. If you said "I'm going to the Smith's house, the Smith's barn, the Smith's pond" etc... that would be correct because the apostrophe shows possession of the item following the name Smith. The original thing I was talking about is on a mailbox or a sign outside that says "The Smith's". I have seen signs that say "The Smith's" with a list below that said "John, Mary, Fred and Julie". This is where you are trying to say there are multiple Smiths living here not that the sign belongs to the Smith family so the apostrophe is not correct. It is like someone adding an apostrophe just because the word is being made plural such as "one dog" compared to "two dog's" where it is totally incorrect to use the apostrophe unless you meant the dog's teeth or the dog's collar.
Quote:
Originally posted by porky
I think that the apostrophe implies ownership...
I think if it was just The Smiths it could mean that there are a bunch of people in the house named Smith... No?
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Porky, exactly my point. If you are talking about a house belonging to the Smith family and you say "the Smiths live here" there is no apostrophe. If you say "this is the Smith's house" you would need one.
I'm not out to correct anyone that wants to use it incorrectly just wanted to whine and complain since that seemed to be the theme of the thread
How about this one. Speaking of a decade you do not need an apostrophe such as "back in the 50s" since it is just plural "fifties" but I see it used all the time like
"I love the 80's"