Family Names and Apostrophes

After a long silence on this blog, I'm back with another common mistake I often see in emails. It seems most people just randomly stick in an apostrophe when writing people's last names thinking one is probably needed but clearly having no idea whether it is actually required or where.

As always, I'll keep the explanation as simple as I can, because English doesn't need to be difficult!

You do need to know whether you are using a family's last name in the singular form or the plural form, and whether you're using it as a possessive or not. This is the key.

Let's say my neighbors' last name is Schneider. There are two of them: Mr. Tom Schneider and his wife Mildred. They have a cat and two children.

I live next door to the Schneiders. 

I take care of the Schneiders' cat when they're away.

The Schneiders' children are noisy. 

Mr. Schneider's sister is visiting this week. 

In the first sentence, there is no possessive. The Schneiders don't own anything in that sentence. You need the plural form of their last name, Schneider = Schneiders. There are four Schneiders, and I live next to them all. You don't write "I have four dog's," so don't write that you "live next to four Schneider's."

In the second sentence, the Schneiders DO own something - the cat. The cat belongs to ALL the Schneiders (or they to him, but that's another matter). The apostrophe is needed to show possession.

TIP: When "the" comes before a family name, the name will always be plural, and the apostrophe will always go at the end, following the possessive -s.

In the third sentence, we see the plural possessive again. You see "the" before the name, and the plural form of the name tells you the children belong to both Mr. and Mrs. Schneider.

In the fourth sentence, we have "Mr." instead of "the" before the family name. The sister belongs to only one of the Schneiders, and therefore the apostrophe comes after "Mr. Schneider" and before the possessive -s.

TIP: When "Mr.," "Mrs.," or a first name comes before a family name, the family name will always be singular, and therefore the apostrophe will always be between the family name and the possessive -s.

When nothing comes before the family name, the writer or speaker is just being lazy. What should come before the name - "the" or "Mr./Mrs."?

Do you have Schneiders' phone number?           (This is one number for them all.)

Do you have [Tom] Schneider's phone number?   (This is one number for one of them.)

I'm going to give Schneiders a call.                    (No possessive = No apostrophe) 

Advanced course:

What if the family name ends with an -s or -ss or -z?!?

Don't panic. Let's take the family name Furness. The concept is the same, except that to make that name plural and refer to ALL members of the Furness family, you need to add -es to the name.

I live next to the Furnesses.    (the Schultzes)

I take care of the Furnesses' cat when they're away. 

The Furnesses' children are noisy.    (the Schultzes')

Mr. Furness's sister is visiting this week.    (Mr. Schultz's)

Summing up:

1. plural last name alone (no possessive) = no apostrophe
2. plural last name + possessive = -s' (apostrophe after the possessive -s)
3. singular last name + possessive = -'s (apostrophe before the possessive -s)

WRONG:

Which Berenbaum's what?
(found on pintrest, no original link)

Correct if what is meant is "Marble's cat lives here". WRONG if the cat's name is Marbles.

source

NOPE:

source

Correct, IF Jack and Lisa belong to a guy named Weston:

source

WRONG again, unless this house belongs to "The Drake":

source

For a house sign, the following examples are correct:

The Furnesses  [live here]

The Furness Family  [lives here]

The Schneiders [live here] 

[This is]  The Schneiders' Home 

[This is] The Furnesses' Home 

I hope that helps! 

ITS VS. IT'S

Don't make this one harder than it is.

ITS is possessive and only refers to something that belongs to IT.

IT'S is only a contraction for IT IS or IT HAS.  

That's IT.

You don't use an apostrophe for the possessives of other PRONOUNS, do you? Then don't use an apostrophe for IT either. IT is a pronoun as well.

Other PRONOUNS and their possessive forms:

I              my; mine           Where is my jacket?

you          your; yours        Where is your jacket?

he            his                     Where is his jacket?

she          her; hers            Where is her jacket?

IT            ITS                     Where is ITS leash?

we           our; ours            Where are our jackets?

you all      your; yours        Where are your jackets?

Yes, you use an apostrophe to form the possessive of someone's name (Jack's jacket). But someone's name is a proper noun and not a PRONOUN. Do not use apostrophes to form plurals of PROUNOUNs.

The squirrel tried ITS luck at the bird feeder.

Every dog has ITS day.

The committee has reached ITS decision. 

One way to test whether you need an apostrophe or not is to see if you can replace the word with his or her (which don't have apostrophes either!). "Every dog has his day" is fine. You don't need an apostrophe with "his," so don't use it for ITS, either.


When you want to write "it is" or "it has," then use IT'S.  IT'S only means IT IS or IT HAS.

IT'S going to rain today.         IT IS going to rain today.

IT'S not my problem.             IT IS not my problem.

IT'S been raining all day.        IT HAS been raining all day. 

Really, that's IT! If you're unsure if you need an apostrophe, simply test by replacing ITS/IT'S with "IT IS" or "IT HAS." If IT IS or IT HAS fits into your sentence, then use IT'S. If IT IS or IT HAS doesn't work for your sentence, then use ITS.

ITS / IT'S been a long time.    

             IT HAS been a long time. That's fine. Use IT'S.

The dog was chasing ITS / IT'S  tail.

             The dog was chasing IT IS tail.   Doesn't work. Use ITS.

We couldn't find the wounded deer because ITS / IT'S footprints were washed away.

             ....because IT IS footprints were washed away.    Doesn't work. Use ITS. 

Now go find an online quiz and practice. Remember, IT'S (IT IS) just not that difficult!

LIE vs. lay

I can make this one easy as well: Stop using the words "lay," "lays," and "laying". Just stop it.

     Yes, of course that's too simplistic, but you rarely need those words.

To be more specific, ONLY use "lay" where you could also use "put".

I want to lay down.       I want to put down.       

     (Doesn't work. Use LIE)    I want to lie down.

While I was laying on the beach...      While I was putting* on the beach...

     (Doesn't work. Use LYING.)    While I was lying on the beach...

Fido! Go lay down!      Fido! Go put down!

     (Doesn't work. Use LIE.)     Fido! Go lie down! 

My ___ is so lazy. He just lays around all day!    My ___ is so lazy. He just puts around all day!

     (Doesn't work. Use LIES.)    He just lies around all day!

You can lay your coat on the chair over there.   You can put your coat on the sofa over there.

     (This one is fine. Go ahead and use LAY.)   

You see, the word "lay" requires a direct object, just like the word "put" does. That means you must lay SOMETHING somewhere, just like you have to put SOMETHING somewhere. You can't just put.

    You can lay a baby in a crib.
    You can lay a coat on a chair.
    You can lay yourself down to sleep and pray the Lord your soul to keep.
    You can lay the book you just finished reading on the coffee table.

But you can't just lay. In the above sentences, the direct object (the thing you are putting or laying somewhere) is underlined.

*By "putting" I mean "placing," not the golf term.

**********************************************
Advanced course

Yes, sadly, the simple past tense form of "lie" is "lay". So the sentence "Yesterday I lay on the sofa for three hours" is correct. But why would you want to admit that? Why would you tell people where you were lying yesterday? They don't care.

Less vs. fewer

With the words "less" and "fewer" we have another common mistake in American English. The problem is easily fixed and has only to do with singular and plural nouns.

Here's the rule:

Use "less" with singular nouns, and use "fewer" with plural nouns.

That's it. I can't think of an easier way to phrase that, nor can I think of any exceptions.

Examples of singular nouns:
  time
  money
  patience
  rain

Examples of plural nouns:
  hours
  coins
  patients
  storms

I have less time now than I did when I was young.

It seems like there are fewer hours in the day to accomplish my to-do list.

She has less money than he does.

I have fewer coins in my piggy bank than I did last week.

My mom has less patience than my dad.

If my doctor had fewer patients, I wouldn't have to wait so long.

We get less rain here than they get in Washington.

There are fewer storms on this side of the mountains. 

These two words are not interchangeable. You cannot have fewer time or less hours. I've not heard anyone make the first mistake, but the second is common.

Our neighbor has less fewer flowers in her garden this year than she did last year.

 See? Good grammar doesn't have to be difficult!

NEVER say "Me and..."!!

This one is easy, friends. Seriously - NEVER SAY "Me and..." no matter what follows the "and". I'll get to "me" vs. "I" in another post. Just get this one down, and never, ever say it. Don't write it either, even or especially on social media.

Me and my brother are going shopping after school.*

Do you want to go with me and Jim?*

I taught in a Catholic high school, and I told my students to "be the good Christian, and put the other guy first." I thought I was being witty and clever, and I was desperate for them to remember this simple rule. (It also sounds nicer than "People who say 'me and' will burn in the fiery pits of hell.") Use it if it works for you.

I would be satisfied enough if the rule ended there and people simply stopped saying "me and". If you don't remember what a subject or direct object of a sentence is, then stick to the above rule. However, readers who already have a good grasp of English grammar will know that there are instances when it does work.

The combination of [me + and] can be used if a comma is - or could be - inserted between them.
For instance:

She called me, and I agreed to meet her for lunch.

My brother punched me, and I punched him back. 

It's also fine in this sentence without a comma:

Me and you are both pronouns.

...but why would you ever need to say that?

 Just don't ever say or write "me and," and no one needs to get hurt.



* The red sentences should be:

My brother and I are going shopping after school.

Do you want to go with Jim and me? 

Present Perfect, Anyone?

I'm going to start by tackling my "favorite" error first to get it off my chest. Every time I hear this one, I want to run over a puppy with my lawn mower.

  I have went there many times.              have GONE
  She has already ran three marathons!   has RUN
  Have you wrote your essay yet?           have WRITTEN

The present perfect is used to indicate a past action that continues today or stopped recently. It's formed by combining the auxilliary verb "has" or "have" (depending on the subject of the sentence - the person who did the action) with the past participle of the verb. On this site, check out the "Note" on the right side to see how to form past participles.

The problem that has been gaining popularity in the U.S. has to do with irregular verbs. Irregular verbs are the ones that change form in the past tense rather than just adding an -ed, such as

drive - drove - (has) driven

write - wrote - (has) written 

go - went - (has) gone 

run - ran - (has) run 

Too many Americans have started using the second column words in the above list - which are the simple past tense forms - when they need the past participles. The simple past is used for an action that occurred and ended in the past.

I drove to the store yesterday.   (simple past tense)

If any of my first three examples sound ok to you, here is the error recreated with verbs that haven't been ruined yet, so you can hear what I hear:

I have did my homework.

We have knew each other for six years. 

She has took that test twice already. 

Have you saw the movie Idiocracy? 

Those sound horribly wrong to you, don't they?*  (Please say they do...)

Sadly, there is no pattern or rule for forming the past participles of irregular English verbs; one "just" needs to learn them. The good news is that you already learned them in grade school, so the work has been did done. (See what I did there?)

If you commonly - or even occasionally - say "I have went," "I should have went," or "I could have went," in the words of Bob Newhart...."STOP it!  Just STOP IT!" You're spreading crappy, rotten, polluted language.  Don't be a part of that.

I just thought of a way for you to check if you're using the correct form of most verbs. Add the word "been" between "have" and your verb. You're wondering if "have wrote" is correct. Add "been": "have been wrote" should sound awful, so you correct it to "have been written."  Therefore, use "have written."  This won't necessarily tell you what the correct form should be, but it will tell you what is wrong.  "The race has been ran," "They have been took," and "I have been went" should send up red flags. Take the time to check.

The above tip doesn't work with "come," but you should already know it's not "have came" because of the camp song "Oh, Susanna" with the line, "I have come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee..."



*Those red sentences above should be:
    I have done my homework.
    We have known each other for six years.
    She has taken that test twice already.
    Have you seen the movie Idiocracy?