Apostrophe before or after the s

[CrispsAndChoc]

Really confusing myself! I’m ordering a personalised item which will have my surname on. My surname is one syllable and ends in an s (like Jones but not Jones). It will say The (surname) name of item. I know the apostrophe is after the s but should I add another s after it? So-Jones’ or Jones’s Thanks in advance.

You only add the extra S if you pronounce it when saying it out loud as a rule of thumb.

explanation here if you need it: www.sussex.ac.uk/informatics/punctuation/apostrophe/possessives

Oh wait, so the whole item will belong to the family? I'd deffo put the extra S then.

The Jones's item
The Jones's family photo album

As the Jones family is one unit ?

Omg now i am confusing myself!!!

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Traditionally it would be Jones', but Jones's is also correct e.g.: Bridget Jones's Diary.

I'd go for the Jones family's photo album

Are you pluralising Jones? IE is the Jones family? If so, and you want to add possession wouldn’t it be Joneses’ as in Girls’ (eg Girls’ School) because the pluralisation of Jones is Joneses and the item belongs to all of the Jones family?

I’ve confused myself

Thanks everyone. I’m glad I’m not the only one to get confused! I won’t be pluralising it-there’s only one family. I think that’s right. I like theshittyendofthesticks idea-The Jones family’s so will go with that I think.

@WildFlower2018 is right
I have a surname ending in S and had to get an official online profile changed because it only had one s'!

Jones’ family album

It depends on the actual name ending with -s, and even then it varies according to local conventions about whether an extra "es" or "ez" syllable is pronounced on the end.

Jones = the Jones's cat (s after apostrophe to reflect the typical pronunciation of an extra "ez" after Jones)

Mercedes = the Mercedes' cat or the Mercedes's cat (variable because the so-called correct pronunciation varies across dialect - American English typically adds the "ez" syllable, but British English is more reluctant)

Dubois = the Dubois' cat (a weird one because the usually silent s is pronounced in the possessive [doo-bwoz cat], but it's legitimate to avoid Dubois's because it suggests a pronunciation [doo-bwoz-ez cat] that isn't typically used)

You will get people swearing blind that different versions to the above are the only correct forms, but nope: pronunciation is primary, the possessive spelling should reflect pronunciation, and that pronunciation (and therefore spelling) will vary legitimately by dialect.

grammarist.com/style/last-names/

I always thought you could do either - that it's a style rather than punctuation question? I've an s end surname and think s's looks messy.

'Some make these words possessive by adding ‘s (Mr. Jones’s house, Ms. Doss’s car), and some add only an apostrophe (Mr. Jones’ house, Ms. Doss’ car). Some English reference books recommend the former approach and some the latter, and some say both are acceptable. Purists tend to prefer the former, which is more traditional.'

I'd go with how you pronounce it. E.g. For the surname Williams, I'd tend to say the Williams's (Williamsez) otherwise it might sound like it belonged to William. Williams' sounds just like William's. Whereas with e.g. James I'd go with James' rather than James's, (Jamesez) because Jame on it's own isn't a word or name.

Is the item yours or the family's?

If yours, It should be "x Jones's photo album".

If the family's, you are either "the Jones family" or "the Joneses" so it would be "The Joneses' photo album" or "The Jones family's photo album".

No, I don't think so. Jones's is pronounced Joneses or Jonesez. Joneses' isn't right, it makes no sense.

Joneses is plural of Jones. So Mr and Mrs Jones plus any children they have are "the Joneses" in exactly the same way that Mr and Mrs Smith plus their children are "the Smiths".

You then need to add the apostrophe for the possessive eg the Joneses' house. There is no s after the apostrophe because it's a plural. For names that end with an s (but are not plurals) you add apostrophe s.

So you could either say "Mr and Mrs Jones's house" or "the Joneses' house" . The pronunciation would be same either way.