Signing Your Holiday Greeting Cards

Of the seven examples below, which ones are correct if the writer is sending greetings from his or her entire family?   

1. Happy holidays from the Smith’s 
2. Happy holidays from the Williams’ 
3. Happy holidays from the Smiths 
4. Happy holidays from the Williamses 
5. Happy holidays from the Smiths’ 
6. Happy holidays from the Williamses’ 
7. Happy holidays from the Williams family  

Only 3, 4, and 7 are correct.  

 

Examples 1 and 2 are problematic for two reasons:

 

First, the apostrophe makes the names possessive, and when we send greetings, they are from us, not from something we own. The names Smith and Williams would need to be in the possessive case only if the greetings were from Jane Smith’s hamster or John Williams’s goldfish. (Yes, reputable style guides consistently advocate the use of the additional s after the apostrophe for most singular words in the possessive case—even those that end in s. We will address this issue more fully in a future article.)

 

Second, examples 1 and 2 are wrong because the names are singular possessive. Since the writer intends for the greetings to come from all of his or her family members, the name needs to be plural (but, as we have already noted, not possessive):

 

Singular names: Smith, Williams Singular possessive names: Smith’s, Williams’s  

Plural but not possessive names: Smiths, Williamses

Courtesy of: http://www.getitwriteonline.com