Jenny Morse, PhD
Author and CEO

Holiday cards, thank you notes, wedding invitations, and other messages sent through the mail are tough for oh so many reasons. One reason is planning, we have to think about our writing before we actually start writing, so we need plenty of time to get these things done. This is why I typically send out New Year’s Cards rather than attempting to get a holiday card out to my friends and family before the holidays. Because my life still runs on semesters, I have a break in mid-December that I can use to get my cards done, but I can’t even think about attempting them as the semester ends.

Another reason these notes are so difficult is grammar.

Here’s a quick test (multiple choice):

If your last name were Jones, would you sign your holiday card as From

a) The Jones’s

b) The Jones’

c) The Joneses

d) The Joneses’

e) The Joneses’s

Correct Answer: c

Did you get it right?

If you did, congratulations! Want to see how your grammar skills stack up to ours? Take our free writing skills quiz! Or consider taking your writing skills to the next level with one of our online courses!

If not, you might want to take our free writing skills quiz to find out what other grammar and writing skills you could improve. We offer several online courses that could help you brush-up on your grammar and writing to help you become a more efficient and effective writer.

Want to know why c is the correct answer? Keep reading below!

Here’s what some clients have said after working with us:

“I struggle with dangling modifiers, comma usage, and semi-colons. The sections specifically pertaining to these areas of grammar were extremely useful and helpful to me…[and] The trick about leaving your estate to "1, 2, and 3" versus "1, 2 and 3" helped my confusion over the Oxford comma.”
“My mind is still blown over the fact that north, south, east, and west are not capitalized. I have been doing that for 50 years…I learned a lot and was reminded of things I had forgotten. I am sure I will be able to use this in my everyday work life.”

Looking for more quick grammar tips like this one?

Try one of our 6 Better Business Writing Course modules! Each module includes video content and exercises that you can take at your own pace.

Learn More

Do you know what an oxford comma is or why using it correctly could save you millions of dollars? (At least it would have saved a trucking company in Maine millions of dollars.) Have you been incorrectly capitalizing north, south, east, and west? You might benefit from our online courses and coaching! Check out our website to learn more about our company and how we help you improve your writing and achieve your professional goals.

Why is c the right answer?

Plurals and possessives in English are challenging. I’ve written about this before. The apostrophe is used to show possession or elision. Elision is what happens in a contraction: don’t. The apostrophe shows that a letter has been skipped over or elided. Possession is when one noun (person, place, or thing) owns another noun. So in order to use answer d or e, you’d have to be signing off from the family cat or dog:

Love,

The Joneses’s cat, Fritz

Love,

The Joneses’ dog, Pebbles

Notice the apostrophe is different in those two options. Both are correct for possession when a word ends with s, so you can choose which to do. The English grammar people can’t agree.

Answers a and b are wrong if you are speaking on behalf of the whole family, but would work perfectly fine if your name is The Jones and you have a cat or dog who is writing your holiday cards.

Since your holiday card is from the individuals that are in your family, like any plural, you just need to add s.

Here are more correct examples for less complicated names that don’t end in s:

**Want a more in-depth refresher on professional writing?**

Try our Better Business Writing: On Demand course. This self-paced, virtual course will teach you strategies to become a more efficient and effective writer, and provide you with expert feedback.

Learn More

Morse = The Morses

Riley = The Rileys

Hoffman = The Hoffmans

Wernimont = The Wernimonts

And if your name ends with s (or an s sound), you add es:

Williams = The Williamses

James = The Jameses

Of course, you can get around all of this by simply adding the word “family” after your last name:

The Morse Family

The Riley Family

The Hoffman Family

The Wernimont Family

The Williams Family

The James Family

So, no apostrophes on those holiday cards, thank you notes, and wedding invitations, ok?

If you want more helpful writing tips like this one, consider signing up for our monthly newsletter! We address writing tips and answer your questions about grammar and writing.

Featured