Almost anywhere you look, possibly on your block, people are violating the rules of English grammar. They're doing it not only when they speak and write, but also, brazenly, on painted signs in front of their homes.

I'm referring to those common signs telling you which family lives in a particular house, such as "The Brown's" or "The Smith's." The correct way to do it would be "The Browns" or "The Smiths." Adding the apostrophe makes it possessive and emphasizes that they own the house.

But hey, they live there, don't they? Who else would own it? The boogeyman? The bank? (Whoops, I repeat myself.)

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