Anonymous  +  279487 Thu, 12 Oct 06 08:25 AM A male person is called 'Overall' so Mr. Overall owns a house. It is Mr. Overall's house. another male person is called 'Roberts' so Mr. Roberts (one person) owns a house. Is it: Mr. Robert's house or Mr. Robert's house? Anonymous Nouns

	Mister Micawber  +  279492 Thu, 12 Oct 06 08:59 AM Neither:  it is Mr Roberts' house or Mr Roberts's house. Mister Micawber Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004 Yokohama Veteran Member 30,869 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

	Cool Breeze  +  354554 Mon, 23 Apr 07 03:38 PM  Anonymous wrote: Mr. Roberts' house is plural possessive (ie. the house is owned by more than one Mr. Roberts.) Dropping the s in singular possessive is very common, and poor resources say this can be done, though strictly it should not. This being said, language is shaped by its use so if enough of you continuously get it wrong it will become right. Please don't though, the pleural possessive form makes the meaning clearer. I agree with Mr Micawber. If there is more than one person named Roberts, the genitive is Robertses', not Roberts': This is the Robertses' house. Cheers CB Cool Breeze Joined on Fri, Apr 7 2006 Senior Member 3,979 "I hope you'll all live to be 150 years old - and the last voice you hear is mine!" Frank Sinatra on stage in Oslo, Norway, 28 September 1991 Plurals, Possessives, Nouns, Genitives