Apostrophe question

[Cucumberscarecrow]

Mr Bates's coat or Mr Bates' coat.

Mr Bates' coat

I think both are correct aren't they?

Mr Bate's coat.

If there was one boy with several coats, it would be the boy's coats.

If there were two boys with several coats, it would be the boys' coats.

Think of boy's as something belonging to one boy.

Think of boys' as something(s) belonging to more than one boy.

Does that make sense?

Only if there were several Mr Bates would something belonging to them mean it was Mr Bates'.

Sorry, I totally missed the extra "s" there

Congratulations, everyone, on maturely getting through that without one smirky comment about his son, Master Bates.

Bates is a name; Bate isn't.

It's easier to think of Jones, usually, or James.

You probably say Joneziz and Jameziz, so you should write both instances of "s":

Jones's
James's

But if there are multiple Joneses or Jameses...

The Joneses' holiday home is on Anglesey.
All the Jameses' exercise books have been muddled up.

Ruthless that is correct but it's the more old-fashioned usage. James' and James' is an equally acceptable (and much more streamlined!) alternative.

So, OP, either would be fine.

Sorry meant to say Jones' and James'!

Does this help?

Sorry, that's not clear, is it? Here's the link instead....rule 2

m.grammarbook.com/punctuation-rules/apostrophes.aspx

Bate is a name.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bate_(surname)

Fair enough! Much less common than Bates though.

Jone and Jame definitely aren't names.

Is it Mr Bate or Mr Bates? If it is Bate then it should be Mr Bate's. If it is Bates it can be either Bates' or Bates's.