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Jul - General Chat - Apostrophe Poll New poll - New thread - New reply
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How do you form the possessive of a word ending in s?
Meow.
Apostrophe and s (James's hat)
 
 21.4%, 6 votes
Just an apostrophe (James' hat)
 
 53.6%, 15 votes
It depends on the word
 
 25.0%, 7 votes
Multi-voting is disabled. 28 users have voted.

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Posted on 09-10-10 07:58:11 AM Link | Quote
Forming the possessive of words and names ending in s has a couple of different styles. Which do you prefer?

I've pretty much always used 's, as in "James's hat". I pronounce the extra s, and without it you can't tell if it's possessive in speech other than from the context, so it sounds like it's a grammatical error, as in "James hat". Plus, this is how I learned it in school

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Posted on 09-10-10 08:02:41 AM Link | Quote
It depends on my mood.


Alternatively, you could forgo the apostrophe and call it the Hat of James. (Now it sounds like an artifact)

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Posted on 09-10-10 09:58:27 AM Link | Quote
I'd use "James' hat", because that's what I first heard on the internet. I guess. And I heard it's correct somewhere.

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Posted on 09-10-10 11:02:58 AM Link | Quote
I've heard it both ways, so I use the one that makes more logical sense. I put 's after all singular words, even if they end in s.


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Posted on 09-10-10 11:05:36 AM Link | Quote
Paulguy's Post configuration
I use James's Hat style. The less amount of annoying exceptions and rules the better, and it's not much of a hindrance. Maybe if I needed to optimize out a few bytes for a youtube comment, I might use the other one. :p

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Posted on 09-10-10 02:00:26 PM Link | Quote
James's would be the correct way of spelling it out. But if you were referring to the Jones' cars, you wouldn't add the S after the apostrophe. s' is for plural possessive nouns.

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Posted on 09-10-10 02:04:37 PM Link | Quote
Usage with words ending in “s” varies and can be confusing.
  • With regular plurals, the apostrophe is placed at the end:
    the dogs’ tails (whereas for singular 'dog': the dog's tail)

  • Irregular plurals with endings other than 's' (e.g. children) always take 's:
    the children's voices

  • In current usage, the final “s” is sometimes dropped after proper names ending in “s”. This may reflect variations in pronunciation, or be an instance of (or case of confusion due to) the Biblical/classical name rule. In print, ambiguity can result, because s’ is also used to indicate a plural noun.
    St. James's or St. James’
    (Where, technically, St. James’ could be read to indicate more than one St. James.)


For all those who wondered how it's correct. I generally follow this rule.

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Posted on 09-10-10 02:14:29 PM Link | Quote
Depends on the word for me.

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Posted on 09-10-10 04:05:47 PM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Orlandu
But if you were referring to the Jones' cars, you wouldn't add the S after the apostrophe. s' is for plural possessive nouns.


That's almost correct. However, Jones isn't plural, so it would be "the Joneses' cars" Well, unless their last name is just Jone without the s, and you add the s to make it plural and then the apostrophes. But the last name Jones, with an s in the singular, would need an es for the plural, then the ' for the possessive.

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Posted on 09-10-10 04:11:17 PM Link | Quote
James' hat. Jones' car. The childrens' classroom. The child's class.

Oh God I should be an English major but agh not enough [effort].

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Posted on 09-10-10 04:54:11 PM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Terra
That's almost correct. However, Jones isn't plural, so it would be "the Joneses' cars" Well, unless their last name is just Jone without the s, and you add the s to make it plural and then the apostrophes. But the last name Jones, with an s in the singular, would need an es for the plural, then the ' for the possessive.


Jones is plural when referring to the family as a whole. Example:

The Jones' car needs new tires.

If you're referring to just one member of the Jones family, then it would be 's:

Mr Jones's car needs new tires.

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Posted on 09-10-10 06:08:03 PM Link | Quote
's.

It actually pisses me off when people use s'. That implies more than one, and a lot of the time it ends up actually trying to refer to one.

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Posted on 09-10-10 06:13:21 PM Link | Quote
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Metal_Man88's Post
I use James'. That's what I was taught. Of course, I was also apparently taught European spelling on words like "Travelling" so I'm probably odd.

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Posted on 09-10-10 07:42:00 PM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Metal_Man88
I use James'. That's what I was taught. Of course, I was also apparently taught European spelling on words like "Travelling" so I'm probably odd.

That.

And "s's" agitates me for some reason.

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Posted on 09-10-10 09:04:58 PM Link | Quote
I was also taught to use s'. I've always preferred it that way too.

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Posted on 09-11-10 12:17:46 AM (last edited by Zero One at 09-10-10 09:18 PM) Link | Quote
Samus' helmet. That's how I've always done it. I pronounce both s's, but type one.

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Posted on 09-11-10 01:21:08 AM Link | Quote
I just realized something.

Originally posted by Terra
I've pretty much always used 's, as in "James's hat". I pronounce the extra s, and without it you can't tell if it's possessive in speech other than from the context, so it sounds like it's a grammatical error, as in "James hat". Plus, this is how I learned it in school


I almost always have seen the opposite (s') throughout high school years (and even sometimes in college). It really, really irritated the hell out of me, like I pointed out.

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Posted on 09-11-10 12:05:30 PM Link | Quote
It depends on the word for me
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Posted on 09-12-10 01:53:28 AM Link | Quote
Just an apostrophe most of the time.

I believe the rule is that if the word ends in -os or -us, then you're supposed to have just the apostrophe to be grammatically correct, but this is old stuff I looked up that I don't remember where, so therefore, it may not be all that reliable info.

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Posted on 09-12-10 10:47:21 PM Link | Quote
 
An apostrophe at the end of the word if it has an 's'. To this day I am still trying to get myself to do that without thinking, same as 'a'/'an'.

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Jul - General Chat - Apostrophe Poll New poll - New thread - New reply


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