- By Jim Evans
- Entertainment
Print 
SMART TALK SMART TALK Dr. Perse Nickety
THE SULLIVAN’S: I see this sign in front of a neighbor’s house every day. At the Center for English as a First Language, we like to ask patients who commit this error, “So who’s The Sullivan?” They look very confused at first, because they don’t realize what the sign really says.
The same patients may also see nothing wrong with “Apple’s For Sale”. Maybe they don’t observe what they read, or they zoned out when the purpose of apostrophes was (repeatedly) explained in school, or they’re just fatuous, like the poor dears who say “I feel badly about that” instead of the correct bad.
THE SULLIVAN’S says one person known as The Sullivan really wants you to know that he or she owns the place.
SULLIVAN’S sounds like an Irish bar owned by someone named Sullivan.
THE SULLIVANS’ proclaims ownership by more than one Sullivan, probably a family.
THE SULLIVAN FAMILY makes that very clear, but simple language is always better language, and we don’t need three words.
THE SULLIVANS uses just two words and announces that two or more Sullivans live there. See? It’s just a plural. No apostrophe necessary. Why make things more complicated, not to mention wrong?
SULLIVAN does the job most elegantly, in a single word. Do we need more? People are driving by; why give them more to read? Using superfluous words or even letters is too much like spelling the address number on the front of the house — “Four fifty nine” rather than a merciful 459.
v10i19