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This is one issue in particular that drives me crazy when an author adds or inserts an apostrophe in the last name of a family when he or she means it to be a plural word only!! I see this mistake commonly in Christmas cards and other correspondence and I've even seen it on public signs. I sputter and mutter and ask, "Why, why, why???" My poor husband is often the recipient of my sputters and mutters!

Do these errors greatly bother anyone else? If it's only once in a book, it's probably only an overlooked typo and I can deal with it. But when it's repeated over and over, as in one book I read, it is like nails on a chalkboard!! I just want to rattle someone's cage and beg, "Please let me proofread your card, or sign, or book for you!!!"
The answer is really so simple!

To make plural if the last letter of last name is one of the following, just add -s:
-->a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, t, u, v, w, y --> JUST ADD -s with NO apostrophe needed.

To make plural if the last letter or combination of letters of the last name is among the following, just add -es:
s, x, z, ch, sh -->JUST ADD -es with NO apostrophe needed.

TO MAKE IT PLURAL AND POSSESSIVE -- add -s' or -es'
ie.: the Smiths' house or the Joneses' house

-- 22 Oct 2015, 13:14 --

Now I have a question: what if the name was Smiths. Smithses seems awkward. Not sure if Smiths even exists, but I imagine there are similar names where adding -es would seem awkward. I haven't looked this up on the internet, but it's probably out there.

I know what you mean - the misuse of apostrophes is really annoying. Its the worst when you see it in professional business settings.

In regards to our Smiths question - I read a good article on WriteShop entitled "Pet peeves, apostrophes, and plural family names" which talks about plural and plural possessive issues in regards to last names. (Unfortunately since I'm a new member here, I am unable to post a link or url to the article, but you can find it through a Google search if you're interested in reading it.) From what I've read in this article and in others, Smithses is probably the correct way to go - even though it looks quite awkward.

Welcome, Ryn! I haven't been on here very long, but I am enjoying it! Thanks for your input! Like I said, maybe Smiths doesn't even exist as a last name, but IF it did or another similar awkward situation, I am just curious!! I'll check out some websites about it.

I'm a stickler for grammar and punctuation, and in my first novel I had a character named Lou Masters. I had sold my novels to a publisher and was making the final review and I found this:

The door to Master's condo opened.

I practically screamed at myself for making that typo or grammatical error and letting it sneak past me for so long. Thankfully I managed to catch the error and fixed it to read:

The door to Masters' condo opened.

Hey, it happens.

I just reviewed a book where the author used "'s" when trying to write about the family (plural). The family was the Steepers (Steeper plural) and each time, the author would refer to them as the "Steeper's" and it drove me nuts! One time and it's a typo (like moderntimes' example), but repeatedly and it is an unknown error to the writer. It makes it hard for me to take any person seriously when they make glaring grammatical/mechanical errors, even more so when those errors are frequent.

Looks like that book didn't have a very competent author or proofreader. As I said, I nearly went nuts when I came across that typo in my 1st novel and thankfully I caught it before it went to press. It's hard to get a full length book published with zero errors but they are rare. I find a typo in maybe 1 of 10 books I review. Most times it's an entire word missing, like

"Jim opened door."
instead of
"Jim opened the door."

And I'm guessing that rarely, the auto-justification software which turns the author's ragged right pages into a fully justified page hiccups.

Thank you for sharing.

Punctuation is often necessary to make proper sense of what is written, but beyond a reasonable point I think it begins to get bit ridiculous.

Here are the rules I go by and if anyone doesn't like them they can go hang themselves.

John Smith's - That which is possessed by our friend Johnny Smith.

Thomas Smiths' - That which is possessed by our friend Johnny's brother who is so embarrassed by his family that he added an S to the end of his name so people won't think he is related to them.

'Sylvia Smiths' or Sylvia Smiths - The entire collection of people in the world known as Sylvia Smiths.

The Smiths - The Smith family.

The Smith's - That which is collectively owned by a family named 'Smith'.

Smithes' - That which is possessed by Harold of the Smith family [Johnny's youngest brother] who has changed the spelling of his name because is both embarrassed by the Smith family as well as by his idiot of a cousin, Thomas.

smith's - The state of possession of an article owned by some big brute, or brutes unnamed, who hammer iron on an anvil.

His Eminence The Smythe's - The state of possession of an article owned by some big brute, or brutes unnamed, who hammer iron on an anvil and have recently achieved the status of royalty.