Is this gramatically correct?

This is the Executive Editor of the News Journal writing in an opinion piece in today's paper...

"And sometimes we do reject video, as we did several years ago with video regarding the Billingses’ murder case."

Is it correct to be written Billingses'. Or should it be Billings'.

I believe it should be Billings'.

Eric wrote:

I believe it should be Billings'.

That's what I thought too. But if you and I are correct it astounds me that the executive editor of the newspaper and whoever is tasked with proofreading his material don't know that.

It is correct either way.....Billings' (showing ownership). Billingses’ is not necessary but it isn't considered incorrect.

The Jones' dog ran away. I'm going to see the Joneses. These are correct.

Say a Hospital has a Billing Department. A mail clerk is sorting incoming mail. He throws a letter into a box entitled RECORDS. Somebody else grabs it and says, "No.this goes to BILLINGS and throws it into a box entitled BILLINGS. What is that?" someone says,"Its the billings for the Billings, the Billinges bills."

In this case it is necessary to say Billingses rather than Billings'.

yelladawg wrote:

Say a Hospital has a Billing Department. A mail clerk is sorting incoming mail. He throws a letter into a box entitled RECORDS. Somebody else grabs it and says, "No.this goes to BILLINGS and throws it into a box entitled BILLINGS. What is that?" someone says,"Its the billings for the Billings, the Billinges bills."

In this case it is necessary to say Billingses rather than Billings'.

yella, I think you just found a fly in grammarses' ointment. lol

yelladawg wrote:

Say a Hospital has a Billing Department. A mail clerk is sorting incoming mail. He throws a letter into a box entitled RECORDS. Somebody else grabs it and says, "No.this goes to BILLINGS and throws it into a box entitled BILLINGS. What is that?" someone says,"Its the billings for the Billings, the Billinges bills."

In this case it is necessary to say Billingses rather than Billings'.

BobW wrote:

This is the Executive Editor of the News Journal writing in an opinion piece in today's paper...

"And sometimes we do reject video, as we did several years ago with video regarding the Billingses’ murder case."

Is it correct to be written Billingses'. Or should it be Billings'.

Aside from the poor wordsmithing, I am in agreement that it should be stated as "Billings'." As Joani mentioned both are considered acceptable (I believe based on whether you use MLA or other writing style grammar rules), but I threw the sentence into Microsoft Word 2007 as well as a couple online grammar check website and all three caught it as a grammatical error, suggesting change to "Billings'."

yelladawg wrote:

Say a Hospital has a Billing Department. A mail clerk is sorting incoming mail. He throws a letter into a box entitled RECORDS. Somebody else grabs it and says, "No.this goes to BILLINGS and throws it into a box entitled BILLINGS. What is that?" someone says,"Its the billings for the Billings, the Billinges bills."

In this case it is necessary to say Billingses rather than Billings'.

Ditto Joani's response:

Yes, Joneses' is ok.

That said. I am glad to see some interest in the king's English. I think parents and do kids a disservice by not correcting their grammar. Nothing makes me cringe more than to get correspondence from teachers with spelling and grammatical errors.

Pet peeves:

Where's it AT? Force kids to eliminate the contraction and ask "Where is it?" and they almost always drop the "at".

Spelling definitely, definiately, when it is a statement of how finite something is.

Formally referring to a group that includes women as, "You guys".

Clearly, I am getting old .

SheSurfs wrote:

Pet peeves:
Formally referring to a group that includes women as, "You guys".

I'm guilty of that...

SheSurfs wrote:

Yes, Joneses' is ok.

That said. I am glad to see some interest in the king's English. I think parents and do kids a disservice by not correcting their grammar. Nothing makes me cringe more than to get correspondence from teachers with spelling and grammatical errors.

Pet peeves:

Where's it AT? Force kids to eliminate the contraction and ask "Where is it?" and they almost always drop the "at".

Spelling definitely, definiately, when it is a statement of how finite something is.

Formally referring to a group that includes women as, "You guys".

Clearly, I am getting old .

You're right, SS. This subject popped into my mind as I was NOT sleeping (darned insomnia!) and as it was used as a plural possessive, Billingses' would in fact be correct.

"You guys" irritates me too and I use "you all" instead as it in not gender-specific.

SheSurfs wrote:

Yes, Joneses' is ok.

That said. I am glad to see some interest in the king's English. I think parents and do kids a disservice by not correcting their grammar. Nothing makes me cringe more than to get correspondence from teachers with spelling and grammatical errors.

Pet peeves:

Where's it AT? Force kids to eliminate the contraction and ask "Where is it?" and they almost always drop the "at".

Spelling definitely, definiately, when it is a statement of how finite something is.

Formally referring to a group that includes women as, "You guys".

Clearly, I am getting old .

The reason I think Billings'es and Jones'es is okay is because the there is no way o pronounce an apostrophe. The words that are apostrophed are for text.