What is the plural of Thomas?

The Second Moon

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In a story I'm writing, The MC and his adult figure, Mr. Thomas, meet a hive mind of Mr. Thomas' (?)

How do I refer to this hive mind? Here is an example sentence that I made up on the spot.:

The Mr. Thomas' spoke.

Or would it be

The Mr. Thomas's spoke.

Thanks in advance for your help.
 

lilyWhite

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You'd use "-es" (Mr. Thomases) since Mr. Thomas ends with an s. Apostrophes aren't used to make proper names plurals.
 

ironmikezero

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Hmm, something's nagging at me . . . I believe it might be . . . the Messrs. Thomas spoke.

Off the top of my head, it seems a bit formal yet correct--especially if the Thomases in question are related.

The only cite I can find is CMOS, 16th Ed., 10.16, p.493.
 

frimble3

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I would lean toward 'The Thomases', saving the 'Mr.' for Barney's particular Thomas, as a gesture of respect. Like calling your mother's best friend 'Auntie', even if she isn't family.
 

Roxxsmom

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In a story I'm writing, The MC and his adult figure, Mr. Thomas, meet a hive mind of Mr. Thomas' (?)

How do I refer to this hive mind? Here is an example sentence that I made up on the spot.:

The Mr. Thomas' spoke.

Or would it be

The Mr. Thomas's spoke.

Thanks in advance for your help.

I'd probably write "The Thomases."

Apostrophes would denote possession, not plurals.
 

The Second Moon

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Thanks everyone. The hive mind only shows up for a very brief amount of time in the short story, but I just couldn't figure out what the plural was.T Thanks again
 

neandermagnon

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I would find "The Mr Thomases" much truer to a child character's voice than "The Thomases". And even if there is a plural form of Mr, I don't think the child character would know it.

I don't know how it is in USA schools but in UK schools teachers are known by their title and last name, so every teacher I ever had at school was Mr, Mrs, Miss, etc (last name) and the title was mentally processed as part of their name, not a title of respect. Also, Sir is used as well, again like it's the teacher's name. I've even heard of cases of students swearing at teachers and still addressing them as "Sir" in the same sentence, like their actual name is Sir, the kid hasn't processed that Sir is a title of respect and not a given name, and also hasn't noticed the irony of calling someone Sir and a string of expletives in the same sentence. Teachers find this hilarious (after dealing with the insolence appropriately).

Anyway, The Mr Thomases seems to me the most appropriate way to refer to the hive mind given a child POV.
 

The Second Moon

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I would find "The Mr Thomases" much truer to a child character's voice than "The Thomases". And even if there is a plural form of Mr, I don't think the child character would know it.

I thought the same way. I called them the Mr. Thomases.
 

Salaha Kleb

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In a story I'm writing, The MC and his adult figure, Mr. Thomas, meet a hive mind of Mr. Thomas' (?)

How do I refer to this hive mind? Here is an example sentence that I made up on the spot.:

The Mr. Thomas' spoke.

Or would it be

The Mr. Thomas's spoke.

Thanks in advance for your help.

How about:

Mr. Wholemes' spoke. Like in, 'a whole mass of something'--though you'd need to introduce who these particular fellows is of One are.
 

DMakinson

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In a story I'm writing, The MC and his adult figure, Mr. Thomas, meet a hive mind of Mr. Thomas' (?)

How do I refer to this hive mind? Here is an example sentence that I made up on the spot.:

The Mr. Thomas' spoke.

Or would it be

The Mr. Thomas's spoke.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Messy. Try Smith. Or Brown. Not Jones.
 

angeliz2k

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If you wanna get technical/fancy, you can use messieurs (abbreviated Messrs.; Messrs. Thomas).

But it would be the Misters Thomas or the Thomases.

For a kid, I suspect he might just say "Mr. Thomas and Mr. Thomas" or "the Mr. Thomasas". Are the two Thomases related? Maybe "the Thomas brothers/cousins/whatever" if he's talking about them but not to them.