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One thing that has failed to stick by me from my English classes is certain possessive terms. I keep forgetting whether or not, and when, I can use an apostrophe without an "s". Is it Max' or Max's? The Johnsons' or the Johnsons's?
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Like pjalne said, you put just an apostrophe if you're using the plural possessive (or a contraction, but that's a totally different set of rules
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For example, I had more than one cat, I could steals the cats' ball, assuming the ball belonged to all the cats. If there was just one cat, I could steal the cat's ball.
It's Max's rather than Max' because there is just one Max. A common error is to assume that the S at the end of a proper noun implied plurality.
The plural possesive form would be Johnsons' only if the last name was Johnson... It's kinda hard to explain, so I will try to make up a few sentences for examples.
(Last name is Johnson)
The Johnsons have a nice car.
I got a ride in the Johnsons' car. (In this case, Johnsons' refers to the whole family)
I got a ride in Johnson's car. (Only one guy named Johnson).
(Last name is Johnsons)
The Johnsonses have a nice car. (Ooooh... plural!)
I got a ride in the Johnsons's car.