if you have some time today or later this week, you might want read my pal joots’s Don’t Fence Me In column. it’s pretty damn good.
also, i hate s’s, but yesterday i learned the rule. at least i think i learned the correct rule. plural possessive is s’, singular possesive is s’s.
is that right grammar nazis? or did i screw it up?
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i do believe them’s correct grammars, miss jodi.
I’m pretty sure if it already ends in an S, you don’t add another one, just the apostrophe.
You should never leave an apostrophe hanging, Miss Chromey. The rule you wrote is technically correct, but it is only one correct option. The better choice is to always follow the apostrophe with an s. This is both technically correct and generally agreed upon by those in the grammar know. You might look at Lapsing Into A Comma, a book by a copy editor of the Washington Post, who addresses this and many other fascinating grammar problems. Pardon me, now, for I have to go take my nerd pills.
You should never leave an apostrophe hanging, Miss Chromey. The rule you wrote is technically correct, but it is only one correct option. The better choice is to always follow the apostrophe with an s. This is both technically correct and generally agreed upon by those in the grammar know. You might look at Lapsing Into A Comma, a book by a copy editor of the Washington Post, who addresses this and many other fascinating grammar problems. Pardon me, now, for I have to go take my nerd pills.
The advice was so nice I posted it twice.
waitaminute…. i think jodi’s right. i was always taught that if it’s plural and possessive, then the apostrophe goes at the end, e.g., “i’m going to my parents’ house.”
however, if the word itself (not just its plural form) ends in an ‘s’, like “arkansas,” then making it possessive would mean that you need to add that extra ‘s’ – e.g., “bill clinton was arkansas’s governer.”
You would not be considered wrong if you followed that rule, but they way you mention breaks another grammar rule (involving apostrophes), whereas the rule I prefer breaks none. I was taught the same way you were, but that rule is now considered old-fashioned. Newspaper and publishing copyeditors are taught to always use the second s.
…..but, back to me…. ;~)
thanks, toots! comin’ from someone who writes like a bat outta hell, i appreciate the kudos – truly.
“parents’s”. sounds like gollum, to me.
Grammer rules change with time. We are in an apostrophe transition. Though he/she above/below is right in saying that it is preferable to always follow an apostrophe with an s, both are acceptable in publication.
I’ll go see if he/she has any of those nerd pills left now.
yeah, joots’ column was incredible. I’ve linked to it on my LJ too and told everyone to go read it.
Just to clarify, you’d never do “parents’s” (use just the apostrophe for possessives of plurals ending in s) but you might do Reynolds’s or Connors’s instead of Reynolds’ or Connors’ for such singular possessives if you’re of a more formal bent than the average newspaper.
(Sorry for the interruption. I wrote “Lapsing Into a Comma,” and I was just vanity surfing. Thanks for the mention!)
Now, if you have lots of books each of a different colour, if it “the books’ colour” or “the books’ colours”?