Editing Apostrophe (section)

===== {{anchor|Plural possessive}}Basic rule (plural nouns) =====

When the noun is a normal plural, with an added "s", no extra "s" is added in the possessive, and it is pronounced accordingly; so "the neighbours' garden" (there is more than one neighbour owning the garden) is standard rather than "the neighbours's garden".
* If the plural is not one that is formed by adding "s", an "s" is added for the possessive, after the apostrophe: "children's hats", "women's hairdresser", "some people's eyes" (but compare "some peoples' recent emergence into nationhood", where "peoples" is meant as the plural of the singular "people"). These principles are universally accepted.
* A few English nouns have plurals that are not spelled with a final "s" but nevertheless end in an /s/ or a /z/ sound: "mice" (plural of "mouse"; also in compounds like "[[dormouse]]", "[[titmouse]]"), "[[dice]]" (when used as the plural of "die"), "pence" (a plural of "penny", with compounds like "sixpence" that now tend to be taken as singulars). In the absence of specific exceptional treatment in style guides, the possessives of these plurals are formed by adding an apostrophe and an "s" in the standard way: "seven [[titmice|titmice's]] tails were found", "the dice's last fall was a seven", "his few pence's value was not enough to buy bread". These would often be rephrased, where possible: "the last fall of the dice was a seven".{{NoteTag|"Pease" as an old plural of "pea" is indeterminate: Lentils' and pease'[s] use in such dishes was optional. Nouns borrowed from French ending in ''-eau'', ''-eu'', ''-au'', or ''-ou'' sometimes have alternative plurals that retain the French ''-x'': ''beaux'' or ''beaus''; ''bureaux'' or ''bureaus''; ''adieux'' or ''adieus''; ''fabliaux'' or ''fabliaus''; ''choux'' or ''chous''. The ''x'' in these plurals is often pronounced. If it is, then (in the absence of specific rulings from style guides) the plural possessives are formed with an apostrophe alone: ''the beaux' [or beaus'] appearance at the ball''; ''the bureaux' [or bureaus'] responses differed''. If the ''x'' is not pronounced, then in the absence of special rulings the plurals are formed with an apostrophe followed by an ''s'': ''the beaux's appearance''; ''the bureaux's responses''; ''their adieux's effect was that everyone wept''. See also [[#Nouns ending with silent s, x, or z|Nouns ending with silent "s", "x" or "z"]], below, and attached notes.}}