Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[dido4]

1.The Brown children are planning to see a movie.
2.The Browns are planning to see a movie.
3.The Brown family are planning to see a movie.
4.The Brown's children are planning to see a movie.

Q:Are the bold words the same? I mean do they have the same meaning?

Thank you.

[Anuradha Chepur]

#4 is incorrect.

The rest are Ok, but only #2 and #3 mean the same thing: the whole family. #1 means only the children.

In #3, the Americans might prefer to say is, instead of are.

[dido4]

Hi Anuradha Chepur.

Thank you for your reply.

Please explain more about the sentence #4 The Brown's children are plaining to see a movie.

Q1: Why is it wrong?
Q2:Does it have to be rewrittten like this:
Brown's children are planning to see a movie.

Thank you

[Anuradha Chepur]

Yes, Dido4, you can rewrite it the way you have done.

When you say the Brown family, the Brown children, you are using a proper noun to modify another noun. So you should put an article.
But in the Brown's family, the proper noun is not a modifier, so you shouldn't put an article.

[Lorikeet]

How about the Browns' children ? I would think that was okay, but I couldn't accept Brown's children since Brown is a last name. I would think John's children would be okay though, or Mr. Brown's children.