1 2 I was wondering how to write the plural possessive form of business. Is businesses' right? New Member 13  You've got it, LM. Anonymous: how would the apostraphy be used in the following I am Jenifer's Mom, or I am Jenifers' Mom Anonymous: Jenifer's Anonymous: :-) Rules often change to reflect current trends (not always a good thing). It has now become more acceptable to write "businesses" purely because of asthetics and to reflect the more common pronounciation. Regarding people's names, if the name is naturally spelt with an 's' at the end for example "James", then you only put an apostrophy ( ' ) without another "s" so the plural of James will be James' not James's. However, just to be difficult, it is acceptable to write "James's" when continuing the sentence, for example "We visited St. James's palace". As with "businesses" this was introduced for asthetic reasons. New Member 01 Hi Zebedee, and welcome to the forums. Can you cite some examples used in reputable publications that use businesses without the apostrophe that indicate a plural possessive? That sounds extremely odd to me. On the issues of James's versus James', and other proper names, that certainly does vary whether that "extra" s is used, but for a generic noun like "business" I'm astonished to hear that the apostrophe was dropped in any situation. Veteran Member 25,033    Anonymous: businesses's One boy's bike. Two boys' bikes. One dog's bowl. Two dogs' bowls. One business's plan. Two businesses' plans. Not businesses as a plural possessive, not businesses's as a plural possessive. Veteran Member 25,033 More
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