Talk:The Sanderses' home

Where did 9734 show what episode?
~ ~ ~ ~ Red = 20:57, 31 January 2007 (EST)

I don't remember which episode (probably Genesis). IIRC, it was painted on the curb in front of the house. - RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 22:01, 31 January 2007 (EST)

Yeah, it was either Genesis or Don't Look Back.--Hardvice (talk) 22:21, 31 January 2007 (EST)

Plural Possessives

I know there are other discussions on this but I can't find them. Because of the recent edit and revert and because Sanderses' sounds kind of weird to me, I did a search on this again. I found a site that explains that when a last name ends in a hard "z" sound, you usually don't add an "s" or the "-es" and simply add an apostrophe: "the Chambers' new baby." Here and Here. Is this correct? -Lөvөl 15:22, 1 June 2007 (EDT)

• It's wrong anyway. They're the Sanders', OR Sanderses. Since their last name is Sanders, Sanderses' would be Sand-er-ses-ses. --Riddler 15:52, 1 June 2007 (EDT)
• "The Chambers' new baby" is correct if the last name is simply "Chamber". If the last name is "Chambers", then the plural would be "the baby that belongs to the Chamberses". The plural possessive would be "the Chamberses' baby". The title of this page is read "The Sand-ers-es home" -- an apostrophe does not add any extra sounds. RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 21:10, 1 June 2007 (EDT)

- The apostrophe adds the extra "es" sound o_O --Riddler 00:10, 2 June 2007 (EDT)

• • No, the apostrophe itself is not pronounced. The possessive of "dogs" (dogs') is pronounced "dogs", not "dogses" (although it's frequently mispronounced as such). In fact, it's pronounced the same as the possessive of "dog" (dog's). And an apostrophe is never used to make a plural; Sanders' would be the possessive of a group of people named "Sander". Since these people are named "Sanders" (ending in a sibilant), the plural is "Sanderses". Since it's plural and ends in "s", it takes only an apostrophe to become possessive, and it's Sanderses', and is pronounced the same as "Sanderses".--Hardvice (talk) 00:47, 2 June 2007 (EDT)
    • That's funny I knew that and you didn't :p It seems that's the only one grammar point I ever learned. (English teaching in France is so so lame...) -- FrenchFlo (talk)        09:59, 2 June 2007 (EDT)
• You are wrong, I'm sorry. To make a proper noun that ends in -s possessive you add an apostrophe. So the the "Chambers' baby" would mean a baby of the family Chambers, NOT the plural of Chamber, the possessive of a singular noun that does not end in s would be the "Chamber's baby". Since their name is a proper noun that ends in -s you simply add an apostrophe. Adding -es AND an apostrophe is redundant and incorrect. Using Sanderses would mean the home owned by each individual Sanders family member, but unfortunately Sanderses is incorrect. That's why "keeping up with the Joneses" is a funny catchphrase, because it is not possessive and means that you are trying to keep up with the individuals of the Jones' family. I don't know where you are getting that plural nouns or ones that end in -s never receive an apostrophe, that is not correct. Plural nouns or proper ones that end in -s always, always receive an apostrophe to make them possessive. [1] Example: The Wilsons' house (The Wilsons live in the house.) Their last name (Wilsons) is already a plural noun, it doesn't need -es to make it plural. Same with Sanders, it is already plural! It doesn't need -es to make it more plural before you add the apostrophe showing possession. [2]

You add -es to words like dress, not to proper plural nouns.

Plural nouns don't need to be made plural, they already are!!! [3]

Just to give another example: You wouldn't say, "Colonel Sanderses' secret recipe", you would say "Colonel Sanders' secret recipe".

Bottom-line, the rule here is If a singular proper noun ends in s, add an apostrophe. http://grammar.uoregon.edu/case/possnouns.html

• This article refers to the home of the family named Sanders. It's plural, not singular. (Admin 19:44, 14 October 2007 (EDT))
  • Wrong. "Sanders" is their name. It is a singular proper noun. Adding the apostrophe makes it plural and possessive identifying the home as the one in which the Sanders family lives. Leave it incorrect if you want, but it looks silly when it is a very basic grammar issue. Just because something incorrect is repeated doesn't make it correct. If everyone started typing "irregardless" I'm sure you wouldn't let it stand.
    • Yes, but Colonel Sanders is singular. Colonel Sanders's (or Colonel Sanders', depending on the style manual you're using) recipe is correct. If the recipe belonged to his family, it would be the Sanderses' recipe. One Sanders, two Sanderses. One Jones, two Joneses. One plus, two pluses. See here or here or here or here or here or here or pretty much anywhere. Sanders is not already plural--it's a singular noun that ends in "s". Bob Smith is one of the Smiths and lives in the Smiths' home. Niki Sanders is one of the Sanderses and lives in the Sanderses' home. If her name was "Niki Sander", you would be correct. It's not. Her name, in the singular, ends in an "s".

There's two separate questions here. The first--does a singular noun which ends in s take an apostrophe or an apostrophe and an s to become possessive--is a question of style and varies from style manual to style manual (i.e. is it D.L. Hawkins' car or D.L. Hawkins's car?) The second is does a family name which ends in s need to be made plural when referring to more than one family member? That's a question of grammar, and the answer is always "yes". "Sanders" is either singular (referring to a single person with the surname "Sanders") or plural (referring to more than one person with the surname "Sander"). The "Sanderses" refers to more than one member of the Sanders family. Now, their house could be "The Sanders home" (descriptive, not possessive--it's where the Sanders family live--compare "The Bennet home", not "The Bennets' home") or "the Sanderses' home" (possessive--more than one Sanders possesses the home), but not "the Sanders' home" (possessive--a home owned by more than one Sander)--Hardvice (talk) 19:59, 14 October 2007 (EDT)

• • • Sanders is their last name, but the family is made up of multiple members. I would call Tony Romo a Dallas Cowboy, but he is a member of the Dallas Cowboys. Similarly, Micah is a Sanders, but the group of them is the Sanderses. When calling them the Sanders' family, then you are saying the family is possessed by a Sanders, whereas the Sanderses is not necessarily a family, but multiple people with the last name Sanders. So, you could say "the Sanders' family home", meaning it is the family home, whereas the Sanderses' home is a home possessed by multiple people with Sanders as their last name.--Bob 20:01, 14 October 2007 (EDT)