- All the Smiths, the Joneses, both the Miss Johnsons, one of the Dr. Davidsons, and the Mrs. Wilsons, were present.
But to prevent the confusion and misunderstanding which might arise in changing the form of a proper noun, we do not change its form in writing the plurals; for example:
- There were eight Henrys, kings of England.
- The two Marys reigned in the kingdom.
It would be confusing to say eight Henries, the two Maries.
The title is made plural when several are referred to, thus:
| Mr. Hayes | The Messrs. Hayes |
| Miss Smith | The Misses Smith |
78. The title is made plural when used with several names, thus:
- Messrs. Brown and White.
- Generals Lee and Grant.
- Drs. Long and Larson.
79. In the case of nouns formed of two or more words, when the compound word is so familiar that the parts are not thought of separately the s is added to the whole compound word, as four-in-hands; forget-me-nots; court-yards; spoonfuls; green-houses; etc. But when one of the parts is more important than the others, the s is added to the more important part, thus:
- mothers-in-law
- commanders-in-chief
- hangers-on
- men-of-war
- by-standers
- attorneys-at-law
- passers-by
- step-sons