Grammar Question

[Barnes]

The Davidsons' Cottage

[getbak]

Class it up and go with the French: Chez Davidson.

[foshizzle11]

Originally Posted by getbak

Class it up and go with the French: Chez Davidson.

Chez Davidsons' or Chez Davidson's?

[nfotiu]

Out of curiousity, what is the plural to Davidsons? Davidsons or Davidsonses?

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Out of curiousity, what is the plural to Davidsons? Davidsons or Davidsonses?

If your name was nfotiu Davidsons, and I was having your whole family over for dinner, my guests would be the Davidsonses.

[Singularity]

Last name is Davidson. Only if the name ends with an s do you put the apostrophe at the end

Ex.

Iginla's House
Stamkos' house

[terminator]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

it's*

Heres you're cookie

[Chill Cosby]

By putting "The" at the front and an apostrophe before the "s" you are creating two objects instead of a title.

"The Davidson" and "Cabin"

It is currently a cabin that belongs to The Davidson"

If you wanted to make it a cabin that belonged to the Davidsons, you'd be looking at one of the following:

"The Davidson Cabin"
"Davidson Cabin"
"The Davidsons' Cabin"

By making Davidson possessive of Cabin, you make it a singular and imply that "The" refers to "Davidson" as one, which is kind of awkward.

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by Singularity

Last name is Davidson. Only if the name ends with an s do you put the apostrophe at the end

Ex.

Iginla's House
Stamkos' house

Sorry, but I'm not sure a user named Singularity should be commenting on anything related to pluralization.

[driveway]

Family names should be pluralized first and then made possesive. The Davidson's Cabin is incorrect. It should be The Davidsons' Cabin.

[Smartcar]

Squiggs is right. "The" implies it refers to the family (eg. the Simpsons) and makes it plural.

Totally agree with the point about adding an apostrophe for no reason (eg. All big-screen TV's on sale).

[Russic]

Back in the 90's when I was learning to write I used unnecessary apostrophes all the time.

; )

[Smartcar]

Yes, and if you spelled it out you would have written ninety's and not nineties.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by Delgar

We are trying to solve a grammatical question and we are having different views on the correct answer.

The issue revolves around the use of an apostrophe before or after the "s' in a family name.

Example:



Is this correct? The last name is Davidson, plural, they are the Davidsons, so shouldn't it be, "The Davidsons' Cabin"?

What if "The" is omitted? Does it change?

I used to think that it would be

Davidson - singular
Davidsons - ownership
Davidsons' - Plural
Davidson's - Dividson is [doing something]

But is seems nobody uses the 3rd option anymore, and it has just blended in with the 4th option.

But I could be wrong, I am far from a grammar expert. Too many rules not enough time to care, like I guess they want to get rid of the second space after a period? I just won't be able to do that.

I would just skip the confusion and call the place "Davidson Cottage"