Question

When using an apostrophe in this way: 'the boys' bag', would you say 'the boyses bag' or 'the boys bag'?

Answer 1

Boys. It is plural possessive and Boyses is not grammatically correct.

Answer 2

I have always said it like 'boyses' out loud and have never noticed it could have been wrong until recently. Thanks.

Answer 3

It's really common colloquially, which is why you shouldn't worry. There are lots of speaking conventions that don't play out when evaluated on the basis of written grammar.

Answer 4

In order to avoid the repetation of the letter 's' the apostrophe is placed at the end omitting one 's' or 'es', moreover 'es' here is not grammatically correct, in case of its placement the plural of boys would be "boies" that is not considered correct because the pronunciation seems weirdy and different from its original sound. Well, there are only two possibilities to to indicate possession, first is to say 'bag of the boys' and the 2nd possibility is the same as aforementioned 'the boys' bag'.

Answer 5

It would be boys. Boyses is a last name, not a word!

Answer 6

correct grammar is boys'

Answer 7

I understand the grammar side. I was talking about how it would the word would be spoken.

Answer 8

boys' I always pronounced like "boyses"

Answer 9

the boyses bag'