Pardon the cliché, but if I had a nickel for every time I’ve seen a noun incorrectly made plural with an ’s, I’d be writing this on the porch of a picturesque mountain cabin or on a yacht in the Mediterranean. In fact, if I had a nickel for every grammar and punctuation error I spotted, the yacht would be my cheap vacation. I wish.

One of my favorite common errors is the abuse of the apostrophe in forming plural nouns. I say “favorite,” because it is an almost limitless source of entertainment when I’m in a car with other grammar cognoscenti (meaning those in the know). It creates what I call drive-by humor.

In general, do NOT form a plural by adding an ’s. There are some exceptions, but I’m saving them for another post to keep this to a reasonable length.

To form the plural of most nouns, an s or es is added. Nouns ending in s call for an es ending. Examples are: glass -- glasses; mess -- messes; and bus -- buses. (For bus, make sure that you do not double the s before adding the es. The doubled s will change the meaning from multi-passenger vehicles to hearty kisses.)

It may look odd, but proper nouns ending in s are treated the same way: Joneses, Sturgesses, and Valesquezes. Sometimes, avoiding the issue by referring to “the Jones family” will work if the correct plural seems too weird.

Those of you in business should know that Grammar Guru and her like-minded compatriots make a game of spotting signs and advertising with the ’s error. Your deal may seem attractive: “Rose’s $6 a Dozen,” or “Buy One Get One Free Burger’s.” As we drive past, however, the gleeful spot-the-error winner in my car will whoop with delight and we will probably point and laugh. If my husband is driving, he will pretend he doesn’t know us.

Believe me, there are more grammar geeks out there than you may guess. We not only tend to have a twisted sense of humor, we tend to be highly principled sticklers for the correct. We will not stop for your deal.

Take comfort, Dear Readers: Even Grammar Gurus have trouble recalling some rules.

(Deb Sturgess is Marketing and Communications Consultant for MyWebTechGurus.Com.  You can reach out to Deb at 816-974-8787, Extension 2, or via email at deb@mywebtechgurus.com .  Deb owns Influential Expression Consulting, where she does training, coaching, writing and editing.)

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