The first rule to remember about signmaking is; "Less is More". The fewer words you have, the more important each word is. Fewer words means bigger words, and bigger words have more impact.

The other problem we run into a lot is the proper use of the apostrophe.

Apostrophes are used to show possession. There are easy examples;

John's Garage, Timmy's Train Station, Katie's Room.

People run into problems when the person's name ends with an "s", or when there are multiple owners of the object in question. We've looked at dozens of grammar books, and have found the following rules.

If a person's name ends in "s", the older books say to simply add an apostrophe to show possession. For example: Chris' Room, James' Garage. Some of the newer books say to add an apostrophe and an "s".... Chris's Room, James's Garage. We'll make the sign however you want.

The biggest problem comes with multiple owners, typically family names. Cooper's Pool has a different meaning than Coopers' Pool. The first example shows one person named Cooper that owns a pool. The second one shows several people, (the Cooper family) that own a pool. The rule for multiple owners is that you pluralize the name first, and then add the apostrophe.

If you still have questions, join the club. English is a changing language. Try doing a Google search for Apostrophe Rules, and read up. You'll find contradicting rules, but most of them are somewhat straight forward. If you prefer, send an email to sales@thesignpost.com, and we'll be glad to help.