The Joneses

Chicken Warrior · Apr 17, 2007

Everyone says 'the Joneses' but it's not Tom Joneses and John Joneses its Tom Jones and John Jones. So when it's posessesive, is it Joneses' or Jones'?

JanDarby · Apr 17, 2007

"Joneses," as in "keeping up with the Joneses," refers to more than one Jones, just like a group of people with the last name of Smith would be the Smiths, except that with nouns that end in 's,' you ad 'es' to make it plural.

For possessive, when referring to one person with the last name of Jones, most sources prefer: Jones's. Some accept Jones'. As long as you're consistent in the usage, neither one will mark you as clueless, but a given publisher might change it in copy edits.

For possessive, when referring to several people with the last name of Jones, it would be the standard construction, just adding an apostrophe: Joneses'.

JD

WildScribe · Apr 17, 2007

Very thorough, Jan. I was going to cover a couple of those bases, but it looks like you have them all by yourself.

maestrowork · Apr 17, 2007

Joneses refers to the family of Jones.

The possessive would be "Joneses'."

The other day I was reading the news about the Edwardses and the Edwardses' challenges (John and Liz). It does sound kind of weird.

Maryn · Apr 18, 2007

Further muddying the waters...

If the entire Jones family, the Joneses, are considered owners of something (a dog, a house...), it's the Joneses' dog or house--unless you subscribe to the recent change some grammarians are approving, in which nouns already ending in a single s are made possessive by adding apostrophe-s, in which case it becomes the Joneses's dog or house.

Maryn, who will never name a character James again

ETA--Old dog, new trick! I'm wrong. It's only considered correct by some grammarians to add 's to a word already ending in s to create its possessive if that word is singular. The example, Joneses, isn't.

maestrowork · Apr 18, 2007

I don't think it's the Joneses's because it ends with "ses." It would be Jesus' instead of Jesus's, or Scorceses' instead of Scorceses's.

If it's just Jones, then you're correct: Jones's, Davis's, Roberts's.

JanDarby · Apr 18, 2007

nouns already ending in a single s are made possessive by adding apostrophe-s,

That's only if the underlying noun is singular, not if it's plural.

It's never, ever, ever Joneses's (well, unless someone's last name is "Joneses" rather than "Jones").

And the Jesus thing is an exception, which I've never quite understood, but it's a specific exception, something to do with historical/Biblical names.

JD, related to many, many, many generations of Joneses and a Jones herself in another incarnation.

Devil Ledbetter · Apr 18, 2007

What about pluralizing names ending in i or y? I have two in my WIP, Rafferty and Marconi. I've pluralized them to the Raffertys and the Marconis. Is this right? It seems weird to have Rafferties and Marconies.

Maryn · Apr 19, 2007

I think the way you're doing it is right--but obviously I've been known to have no idea what I'm talking about!

Maryn, still trainable

Devil Ledbetter · Apr 19, 2007

The scary thing is, my last name ends in Y, and I still had to ask.

Flay · Apr 19, 2007

Just say s: Raffertys is the standard plural.

The Joneses

Chicken Warrior

Ahead of Your Time

JanDarby

WildScribe

Slave to the Wordcount

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Maryn

Not Any More

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

JanDarby

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,

Maryn

Not Any More

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,

Flay