Charles’s or Charles’ or Charleses – possessive and plural forms
Grammar > Charles’s or Charles’ or Charleses – which is right?
Published in March 2023
Edited by: Mary S., high school English teacher from Australia
How do you spell the possessive and plural forms of the popular name Charles?
These are confusing as the name ends with the letter S.
Let’s summarise the basics first:
SINGULAR:
Charles
PLURAL OF CHARLES (more than one):
Charleses
SINGULAR POSSESSIVE (belonging to eg Mr Charles):
Charles’s OR Charles’ (both are correct, though Charles’s generally preferred). So you could say Mr Charles’s or Mr Charles’.
PLURAL POSSESSIVE (belonging to more than one):
Charleses’
In this article, we will show you why the spelling of this common first name and surname is so tricky and how you can easily learn to do it correctly.
Contents
Charles is the Singular
Charles is a popular first name and surname found throughout the English and French speaking areas of the world.
As is the case with so quite a few other names (for example, Thomas or Jones), the name ends with the letter “s”, making plural and possessive forms so confusing to spell!
You are not the first person that Charles has confused.
Let’s start with the basics.
The word Charles is a proper noun.
What is a proper noun?
Proper nouns are words that are used to name something. In our case, a person. We write proper nouns capitalised. For example, Matt, Jose, Jones, Sam, Thomas, Peter etc.
How would you refer to multiple people (plural) with the name Charles?
Charleses are the Plural
To pluralise the name Charles, just add an -ES at the end of the word.
Exactly the same way you would refer to more than one bus as buses or more than miss as misses.
So, if you wanted to refer to more than one Charles, you would add -ES at the end of the word. So it would result in Charleses.
Simple.
Examples of the word Charleses in a sentence:
- “The Charleses just moved in next door.”
- “In my geography class, there are three Charleses!”
- “You mean you and your best friend are both Charleses? At least I can remember your friend’s name easily. “
- “Keeping up with the Charleses.”
Possessives of Charles (or instances when something belongs to Charles) are a little more tricky.
Charles’s OR Charles’ both singular possessive forms
As an example, imagine we are talking about a car that belongs to Charles.
How would you refer to this car?
Would you write “Charles’s car” or “Charles’ car”?
Well, you can use either and you would not be wrong.
The reason for this is that different English style guides (guides on how to write in English) give differing advice.
So as a result, both Charles’ AND Charles’s are considered correct.
Please note that using Charleses is incorrect when referring to the possessive. We will get into this below.
For now, let’s look at the word forms individually now.
Charles’s
Charles’s is one (and most) accurate way to spell the possessive form of Charles.
It is the preferred way to write it according to most style guides including The Chicago Manual of Style. The guides recommend adding an apostrophe and s (‘s) to all singular nouns to signify possession, irrespective of which letter the word ends with. This is one reason why I suggest using Charles’s as adding ” ‘s ” is uniform across all nouns so it is less confusing to apply the rule.
The other reason is that Charles’s is the much more popular and accepted way to spell the word globally.
See some examples of the word Charles’s used in a sentence:
- “This cute puppy is Charles’s.”
- “Mrs Charles’s cat came over our fence, we are very lucky as she is so friendly.”
- “I am grading Charles’s assessment paper tonight, let’s see how well he did.”
- “I just tried Mr Charles’s brand new dish, he is a great chef!”
Charles’
Is Charles’ also a correct spelling for something that belongs to Charles?
Yes, it is.
Charles’ is an another correct way to write the possessive form of the word.
The Associated Press Stylebook, from New York, recommends adding an apostrophe (‘) to signify possession for a noun. So adding an apostrophe to the noun is simply Charles’.
This form, while still accurate, is starting to be used less often with time and there may even come a day when The Associated Press changes their guidelines.
See some examples of Charles’ used in a sentence:
- “Charles’ sandwich looks so tasty, do you think he will share it with us?”
- “What did you find on Miss Charles’ table?”
- “Look at Charles’s screen, it has all the needed comparison graphs.”
So should I use Charles’s or Charles’s?
Both are ok to use.
I suggest using Charles’s as it is more used, simpler to apply to other words and most accepted in the publishing world.
An easy way to choose which to use is to make it relevant to the task at hand. Find out which form is used by your school, workplace or people around you and use this one.
Once you have chosen one, be consistent. Whether you pick Charles’s or Charles’, use this way throughout your piece.
Alternatively avoid using it altogether, by writing something that “belongs to Charles”.
So now we spoke about the singular and plural of Charles and how to write the singular possessive form of the name.
But how do you spell the plural possessive form or in other words, something that belongs to multiple Charleses?
Charleses’ is the Plural Possessive
Charleses’ is the correct way to spell the plural possessive.
Use the spelling Charleses’ if you are referring to something that belongs to more than one Charles.
Simply add an apostrophe at the end of the word.
For example:
“In front of us is the Charleses’ new house.” – this indicates that the house is owned by multiple Charleses.
“These are Charleses’ cars.”
To conclude
With so much confusing language, let’s conclude the key simple messages with some frequently asked questions we get asked frequently.
What is the singular possessive of Charles?
Charles’s or Charles’ are both acceptable. The reason is that different style guides give differing recommendations. So both ways are fine. I suggest using Charles’s.
And what is the plural?
It is Charleses.
What is the plural possessive of Charleses?
Charleses’. Just add an apostrophe.
Do you make errors when you write or spell in English?
Or do you have any tips to remember how to write plurals and possessives of proper nouns?
Please drop your tips or comments in the section below.
Let me know if you would like us to cover something else on Compare it Versus.
References
References and data used in the writing of this article
- Charles, Wikipedia, retrieved in February 2023
- Proper Nouns, Wikipedia, retrieved March 2023
- Oxford English Dictionary, accessed in April 2023, link to Oxford page
- Associated Press Stylebook, The Associated Press, accessed March 2023
- The Chicago Manual Of Style Online, accessed February 2023
- How Often Should website, reference on how often things are or should be done, retrieved March 2023
- Google search engine for popularity of search terms, search completed in March 2023
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