Grammar Question

[whoknows1230]

Posting in here for traffic!

Recently I have seen lots of Xmas decorations which say things like "Christmas at the Smiths".

Shouldn't it have an apostrophe after it because it is implying that you're going to the Smiths' house (and their house has more than one person living in it) for Xmas i.e. Christmas at the Smiths'

But what happens if the surname ends in S? Would it also be Christmas at the Andrews'?

I thought I was fairly good at knowing my apostrophes but seeing so many examples without one (or with it in the wrong place e.g. the Smith's"), I am starting to doubt myself!

I suspect anyone needing a Christmas decoration reminding them where they are spending Christmas will not mind any grammatical errors!

Agree that it's Smiths' not Smith's.

And am shocked that a PP thought possessive apostrophes were affected by the thing being possessed not the possessor. Jane's shoe vs Jane's shoes. In both examples, Jane's is correct. Or have I been getting it wrong all these years?!

I suspect anyone needing a Christmas decoration reminding them where they are spending Christmas will not mind any grammatical errors!

Let's hope we'll all actually be allowed to go to the Smiths' (or wherever) by December. Otherwise we can all get baubles saying "At home on our own for Christmas" . Still - at least no apostrophes to worry about!

If there was an s at the end of the world without posession then the posessive apostrophe is added after the s. Since you would say The Smiths are staying at home for Christmas (with an S on the end) you would change it to The Smiths' Christmas is at home this year.

@lazylinguist yes, it's all looking like we won't be spending Christmas at anyone's at the moment..
@loveisagirlnameddaisy you haven't got it wrong. I do sympathise with people over this, though, especially when you get into the realms of - the children's - or - the Joneses' (dashes used instead of the even FURTHER confusing quote marks..

I do sympathise with people over this, though.

Oh me too! Grammar and punctuation have been taught very haphazardly for decades - it's no wonder people have trouble!

I love this thread. Mr VD used to live in an officers’ mess and regularly used to go out after dark with tippex and a sharpie correcting the apostrophes on the signage.

@VinylDetective .... and parent's evening always used to send us into agonies trying to decide which one of us was allowed to go.