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Understanding the Context

The bridal market has come far from the days when it was a given that bridesmaids would all wear the same dress in the same colour from a narrow choice of retailers; our options today are thankfully ... One of the hot button topics of wedding planning is the bridesmaids dress. You know, the one you're expected to shell out money on but more often than not despise? But just like the purpose and duties ...

Key Insights

The plural possessive is "ladies'." "Lady" is singular, so if you were referring solely to one woman's shoes, it would be "the lady's shoes." As for your second question, I'm assuming you're referring to a group of women in your salutation of them, so it would be "Good morning, ladies." And as you're addressing them directly, the comma preceding "ladies" is necessary. Hence, there is no ambiguity with the men, and for the same reason no ambiguity with the ladies. Ladies is the plural form of lady, so the apostrophe goes to the right - ladies'. If you are wondering why we don't write ladies's, it is because ladies is one of the exceptions, along with girls', parents', players', weeks' and even Klingons' The metrical pattern of "ladies and gentlemen" consists of (arguably) two dactyls. A dactyl is a group of three syllables where the first is stressed and the second two are unstressed.

Final Thoughts

Ladies Captain means the Captain responsible for Ladies Golf elected to represent the Lady Members at Club and County level and to fulfil [sic] any requirements of the relevant Golf Association. In some settings, "ladies" is still treated as more appropriate: A fine restaurant's host might ask "If you ladies and gentlemen would pease follow me?" I'd still instruct a kid, "Thank the nice lady, Bobby, for catching your ball before it rolled into the street." "Woman" often sounds more serious, and is preferred in no-nonsense settings.