I've said it before, and I'll say it again--an apostrophe should NOT be used to create the PLURAL of a noun. The following sentence appeared in an Associated Press story this past week:
Her attorney has said that the diaper's were her children's and that she did not wear them during her trip from Texas.
This sentence, of course, refers to the woman who drove non-stop to Florida to confront her rival for the affections of an ex-astronaut. (If you wrote this story as a novel, people would claim it was too unrealistic.)
The word DIAPERS should simply be PLURAL--that is, you add an "s" to show that she had more than one of them in the car. No apostrophe needed.
The word CHILDREN'S shows possession, so it is appropriate to add the apostrophe and then the "s" to indicate that the diapers supposedly belonged to the woman's children.
The sentence should be punctuated as follows:
Her attorney said that the diapers were her children's and that she did not wear them during her trip from Texas.
You could simplify this sentence even more by changing the use of "children" to a smoother form:
Her attorney said that the diapers belonged to her children and that she did not wear them during her trip to Texas.
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Tuesday, December 9, 2008
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2 comments:
How about a last name that ends in 's'? For instance my friend's last same is Sanders. Would I write:
"I'm going over to the Sanders this afternoon."
- or -
"I'm going over to the Sanders' this afternoon."
I'm confused if this is a plural and/or possessive situation. Maybe it's both?
Thanks!
Good question,Jim K-III.
If your friend's last name ends in "s," you have two choices for using the PLURAL--Your friend and his family can be referred to as the Sanders or the Sanderses. Most people would probably choose "the Sanders" with this last name. Someone named "Harris" would probably choose "the Harrises."
As far as whether your sentence example is plural or possessive (or both), it is at least partially a matter of perception.
"I'm going over to the Sanders this afternoon."--This is certainly correct and would be my choice.
However, you could also say "I'm going over to the Sanders' this afternoon." This suggests that you are IMPLYING "the Sanders' house," which would be possessive. Note that the apostrophe goes AFTER THE "s." To clarify, why not just say, "I'm going over to the Sanders' house this afternoon." Then you have no ambiguity.
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