Help me with my apostrophe use!

[RedCardigan]

So if you were making sign that said “Summer at the X’s” I’m happy that if the family name was Smith, then it would be “Summer at the Smith’s”.
But what if the surname ends in an “S” like Jones? Would it be “Summer at the Jones’s” or “Summer at the Jones’ “ or something else? Google is not helping!

Surely the Smiths would be the same? It's the Smiths plural not one Smith... So either Smiths' or Smiths's. I'd go Smiths'.

JK Rowling uses James's. Not James'. But as PP says, it's plural in this case.

So the Johnsons' house.
Or Ted Johnson's house.

I don't really know though. Like you I have googled this. A lot.

The people are the Smiths and the Joneses.
The apostrophe follows the s of a plural, eg Jane Smith’s bike but the Smiths’ house.
So
Summer at the Smiths’
Summer at the Joneses’

Sorry just re-read.

Summer at the Jones's. Because you say it Joneses. Not Jones.

No. It wouldn't be Summer at the Smith's. That's wrong. It should be Summer at the Smiths'

If the family name is Jones, it would be Summer at the Jones's.

Please ignore me. I am out of my depth. 😂

It depends on the pronunciation of the plural word.

So if the surname is Smith the plural is Smiths. You pronounce it "Smiths" so you write Smiths'.

If the surname is Jones you pronounce it "Joneziz" so you write "Jones's".

No apostrophe if it's a plural, unless you're a grocer:
Summer at the Smiths
Winter at the Joneses

But possession is implied (I.e. Summer at the Smiths' house), so you do need an apostrophe here.

I used to do editing for a living but I'd run away screaming at the possessive plural of Jones. I'd probably be a middle class twat and write 'Summer with the Jones family' but now I'm questioning whether Jones needs an apostrophe there. No. I don't think it does, because 'Smith family' wouldn't have one. Probably should be Jones', because "Joneses" is how it's pronounced rather than spelled. Spelt? Ugh, I give up!

Yep, agreed. The apostrophe implies possession/something missing, in this case "the house of..."

But if you remember this, people used to say “keeping up with the Joneses” meaning keeping up with the neighbours — think Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances. To make that plural a possessive, I’d say the Joneses’.

This is incorrect.

Summer at the Jones’

Kate, I’d write “Summer with the Smiths or the Joneses”

It's a possessive apostrophe, you do need one as it's the Smiths' house.

If it was the Smiths are going on holiday there is no apostrophe.

Apostrophes are used either as contractions e.g. can't/won't or as possessive I.e. Harry's car.

Keeping up with the Joneses is a plural not a possessive.

Sorry, I meant that to Wrinkles. And I agree, by the way: wrinkles shminkles! But not “wrinkles shingles” as autocorrect tried to insist on.

Yes, that’s right. It needs the apostrophe after the second s to make it possessive.

Summer at the Smiths. Smith (plural) Smiths
The Smith's Summer has a apostrophe as the 's is a contraction and 'owns' the word Summer.

I’m even more confused 😂
So Smith, if you were to say “The Smith’s house” is that wrong? It should be “The Smiths’ house?”

I can just see RedCardigan dumping her fifth half-written sign on top of the others in the bin, and starting again with “Join the Smith family at their home …”.

Or pouring a gin and telling the Smiths and Joneses to write their own bloody sign….

Yup OP - the Smith's house would belong to one blacksmith!

It would be the smith’s house if a blacksmith (or person doing other trade ending in -smith) lived there. If people called Smith lived there, it’s the Smiths’ house.

Sorry, the way I was holding my iPad I didn’t see the end of your message before I wrote.