Page 112 - Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking

commander-in-chief commanders-in-chief commander-in-chief’s

duties
court-martial courts-martial/court- court-martials
martial’s transcript

father-in-law fathers-in-law father-in-law’s
apartment

hanger-on hangers-on hanger-on’s jokes

man-of-war men-of-war man-of-war’s guns
mother-in-law mothers-in-law mother-in-law’s house

passer-by passers-by passer-by’s
conversation

secretary general secretaries general secretary general’s
speech

sister-in-law sisters-in-law sister-in-law’s car

And then there are compounds that look similar to the words preceding, but
because they contain no nouns, they are simply made plural by adding -s to the

end.

■ ■ ■ forget-me-not: forget-me-nots go-between: go-betweens good-bye:

■ ■ ■ good-byes grown-up: grown-ups take-off: take-offs wanna-be: wanna-
bes See more about compound nouns in section 8.1.

8.6.7 COMMON PROBLEMS WITH PLURALS

Frequently you’ll see family names written as a plural on things like holiday

greeting cards, mailboxes, or signs showing a house’s street number. Sometimes
they are written with an apostrophe: The Barrett’s.

The argument for apostrophes like that (usually given as a way to justify the

mistake) is that it means the Barretts’ (house), with house omitted but
understood.

However, this rationalization is weak. What is really happening is that it’s
just one more place in English where folks are getting the -s for plural confused