The Word “The” in Front of a Surname

Margie Wakeman WellsThe Apostrophe 2 Comments

We so often see the apostrophe used in the wrong place. Here I want to talk about just one of those instances.

When the word the is used in front of a surname, the name HAS to be plural. We  do not say “the Nelson” or “the Lawson.” The name has to be plural: “the Nelsons” and “the Lawsons.”

We run into more problems when the name ends in an s because often it is not pronounced correctly. Without regard to how it is pronounced, the name ending in s has to be plural after the word the. It is “the Joneses” and “the Martinezes” and “the Hodegeses.” My husband and I are “the Wellses.”

And now if we need to make this name possessive to show ownership, it is plural possessive.

…the Nelsons’ car…
…the Lawsons’ daughter…

…the Joneses’ house…
…the Martinezes’ neighborhood…
…the Hodgeses’ opinion…
…the Wellses’ party…

Happy punctuating!

Margie

 

Comments 2

  1. When my husband and I married we received a couple of lovely wedding gifts that, unfortunately, plague me.

    One is a large rock intended for our yard with the words “The Dudeck’s 2007” chiseled into it. Argh!

    The other is a slate tile that has hand painted on it “Welcome to the Dudeck’s est. 2007” This one makes me wonder what is the correct punctuation. Should it be “Welcome to the Dudecks’ ” or “Welcome to the Dudecks”

  2. I am going to assume that it means “Welcome to the Dudecks’ Home” and should be possessive — but, of course, plural possessive with “s’.”

    I have one of those gifts, the “Wells’s.” Just can’t put it out for everyone to see.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *