It’s
holiday time and the Christmas/New Year’s cards are coming—some ripe with
grammar errors, which mystified me since the grammar is straight forward. But
then, a younger person (who will remain nameless) asked me a question about
grammar on envelopes. I thought, “How do you not know this?” And I remembered
that most young people rarely use the mail system. They text with their friends
and pay bills online. So here’s a primer on envelopes. And I’ve enlisted my
friends, the Zombies as helpers. Here you go.
You
want to send a Christmas card to the Zombies, here are your options:
Zeno
and Zenobia Zombie
1212
Dripping Blood Drive
Bloodthirsty,
TN 37411
Or
The
Zombies
1212
Dripping Blood Drive
Bloodthirsty,
TN 37411
Or
The
Zombie Family
1212
Dripping Blood Drive
Bloodthirsty,
TN 37411
Under
NO circumstance may you ever write:
1212
Dripping Blood Drive
Bloodthirsty,
TN 37411
Apostrophes
are only
used for contractions and to show ownership. Apostrophes are used correctly
like this:
Next
Saturday, Blood Suckers Anonymous will be holding a weekly meeting at the
Zombies’ house. (Also note, it’s plural possessive because more than one person
lives at the home of the Zombies.)
You
can always double check whether you need an apostrophe by switching the
sentence around. If you can use “of,” then you use an apostrophe.
Now go enjoy your holidays grammar-error free!
Right. A professor once pointed out in class that he visited a home that had something like "The Smith's" on the front. He said that implied the home belonged to only one Smith.
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