{"id":664,"date":"2009-07-28T09:17:08","date_gmt":"2009-07-28T15:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=664"},"modified":"2022-03-28T12:07:57","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T17:07:57","slug":"apostrophes-with-names-ending-in-s-ch-or-z","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/apostrophes\/apostrophes-with-names-ending-in-s-ch-or-z\/","title":{"rendered":"Apostrophes with Names Ending in s<\/em>, ch<\/em>, or z<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you confused about how to show the plural and the possessive of certain names? Maybe you know to write I met the Smiths<\/em>, I drove Brenda Smith\u2019s Ferrari<\/em>, and I visited the Smiths\u2019 house<\/em>. But what if the name is Sanchez<\/em> or Church<\/em> or Williams<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Rule:<\/strong> To show the plural of a name that ends with a ch<\/em>, s<\/em>, or z<\/em> sound, add es<\/em>. If a name ends in ch<\/em>, but is pronounced with a hard k<\/em> sound, its plural will require s<\/em>, rather than es<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Examples: <\/strong>
\nThe Sanchezes will be over soon.
\nThe Thomases moved away.
\nThe Churches have arrived but the Bohmbachs are running late.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rule:<\/strong> To show singular possession of a name ending in\u00a0ch<\/em>,\u00a0add\u00a0\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>on the end of the name.<\/p>\n

Example:<\/strong>
\nHarry Birch\u2019s house<\/em><\/p>\n

Rule:<\/strong> To show singular possession of a name ending in s<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0z<\/em>, some writers add just an apostrophe. Others also add another s<\/em>. See Rules 1b and 1c of Apostrophes<\/a> for more discussion.<\/p>\n

Examples:<\/strong>
\nBill Williams\u2019 car<\/em> OR<\/strong> Bill Williams\u2019s car
\nMrs. Sanchez\u2019s children<\/em><\/p>\n

Rule:<\/strong> To show plural possession of a name ending in s<\/em>, ch<\/em>, or z<\/em>, form the plural first; then immediately use the apostrophe.<\/p>\n

Examples: <\/strong>
\nthe Williamses\u2019 car
\nthe Birches\u2019 house
\nthe Sanchezes\u2019 children<\/em><\/p>\n

Please see our post Using Apostrophes with Last Names Ending in s<\/em>, ch<\/em>, or z<\/em><\/a>, which provides more discussion and helpful examples.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/h2>\n

Choose the correct proper noun in each sentence below. The original proper noun is in parentheses. <\/em><\/p>\n

1. I\u2019m going to marry Ms. Straus\u2019\/Strauses\u2019\/Straus\u2019s daughter. (Straus)<\/p>\n

2. The Ortiz\u2019\/Ortizes\u2019\/Ortiz\u2019s dog bit the mailman. (Ortiz)<\/p>\n

3. My son can\u2019t seem to get enough of Sandi Finches\/Finches\u2019\/Finch\u2019s fried chicken. (Finch)<\/p>\n

4. The Ames\/Amess\/Ameses are coming home from vacation tomorrow. (Ames)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/h3>\n

1. I\u2019m going to marry Ms. Straus\u2019s daughter. (OR<\/strong> Ms. Straus\u2019 daughter)<\/p>\n

2. The Ortizes\u2019 dog bit the mailman.<\/p>\n

3. My son can\u2019t seem to get enough of Sandi Finch\u2019s fried chicken.<\/p>\n

4. The Ameses are coming home from vacation tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\n
Are you ready for the quiz?<\/h6>\n

Apostrophes with Names Ending in s, ch, or z Quiz<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you confused about how to show the plural and the possessive of certain names? Maybe you know to write I met the Smiths, I drove Brenda Smith\u2019s Ferrari, and I visited the Smiths\u2019 house. But what if the name is Sanchez or Church or Williams? Rule: To show the plural of a name that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,34,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apostrophes","category-possessives","category-singular-vs-plural"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5924,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664\/revisions\/5924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}