Apostrophes with Family Names

The September 2 edition of the Huffington Post featured an article about Oprah Winfrey’s dislike for reality shows–an issue now that Carson Kressley, the host of an Oprah Winfrey Network show, will be a contestant on this season’s Dancing with the Stars.

A sentence in the story caught my editor’s eye: the network “has the O’Neil’s and The Judd’s which might not be as crazy as some of VH1 and Bravo shows, but nevertheless they are reality shows.”

Nope. It “has the O’Neils and The Judds….” without apostrophes. Apostrophes don’t mean “more than one.” They signify “of ” ideas.

And the title of the show is misspelled: It should have been spelled The O’Neals, and that which clause should have begun with a comma. So many mistakes in one sentence!

To learn more about apostrophes with family names, click here.

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