Getting Possessive

Dear Ms. Picky,

I'm sure you’ve mentioned this before, but would you mind repeating it: How does one form a plural possessive, such as for the name of a family? I have a friend who has a red doormat with the words

“The Smith’s”

written on it. Can that possibly be correct? And what about names ending in s in the singular, like “the Joneses”?

L.G.

Dear L.G.,

Ms. Picky would take a blue pencil to your friend’s red doormat. Since there is more than one Smith, the family would collectively be called “the Smiths,” and their doormat should say simply,

The Smiths

(without quotation marks, thank you).

Their house, however, would be “the Smiths’ house.”

For a name that ends in s in the singular, the rules are different. The house of Alexander Jones would be “Alexander Jones’s house.” The family of Alexander Jones would be called (plural) “the Joneses.” The house in which the Joneses live would be “the Joneses’ house.”

There are a few notable exceptions: The names Jesus (the possessive of which is Jesus’) and Moses (the possessive of which is Moses’) or a Greek name of more than two syllables. A Greek name that ends in s and is more than two syllables would (like the exceptions Jesus and Moses) simply add an apostrophe for the possessive, not an apostrophe s, e.g.: “Mary Papadopulos’ house” (singular possessive), or (plural possessive) “the Papadopuloses’ house.”

* * *

Dear Ms. Picky,

I realize that one should never say something is “different than” something else, and that the correct form is “different from.” Lately, however, I’ve noticed that more people are saying something is “different to” something else. Is this correct?

Nora K.

Dear Nora,

Ms. Picky is delighted whenever she hears that there is still someone left in the world who eschews the use of “different than.” Re “different to,” this seems to be a more popular usage in the U.K., and lately more and more Britishisms (including incorrect ones) have been making their way across the pond. (One hardly even blinks at “gone missing” anymore.) It’s hard to quarrel with the Brits; they were, after all, using the language long before we were, but Ms. Picky will draw a line in the sand on this one (and thinks that British grammarians would agree with her: Different takes “from,” and similar takes “to”:

His ideas are different from mine.

My story is similar to hers.

____

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