Thursday, October 14, 2004, 17:12 GMT
How do you pronounce the possessive of names which end in /s/?,
e.g Ross's, Jess's, eytc.
e.g Ross's, Jess's, eytc.
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Possessive
Thursday, October 14, 2004, 17:12 GMT
How do you pronounce the possessive of names which end in /s/?,
e.g Ross's, Jess's, eytc.
Thursday, October 14, 2004, 17:27 GMT
Imagine that the apostrophe represents a short "e" (as in "ever" and "egg").
Ross's = Ross[e]s Jess's = Jess[e]s Louis's = Louis[e]s Etc, etc, etc. This may or may not be the correct method to do so, but it works for me.
Thursday, October 14, 2004, 18:51 GMT
I thought that the possessive of names which end in "s" don't need an apostrophe, like for example James' and not James's. Is that right?
Thursday, October 14, 2004, 19:34 GMT
Strictly speaking, there should be only an apostrophe, and not an additional 's', and there should be no change in pronunciation. However, this rule is widely ignored today, probably because it's handy to have an audible indication of the possessive case, even if it's awkward to pronounce.
Thursday, October 14, 2004, 20:09 GMT
OK, thanks.
Thursday, October 14, 2004, 20:14 GMT
Isn't it pronounce
Ross's Ro:siz?
Thursday, October 14, 2004, 23:20 GMT
I think they all end in apostrophe S.
So "James" would become "James's". That's what I was taught.
Friday, October 15, 2004, 00:54 GMT
I believe James's or James' are considered acceptable.
Friday, October 15, 2004, 06:57 GMT
I'd spell it "Ross' cat" and pronounce it /ros..sk@t/.
Friday, October 15, 2004, 07:38 GMT
why then is it sometime written like this:
eg. the students' flat. the teachers' room.
Friday, October 15, 2004, 07:48 GMT
Because it's the flat/room of more than one student/teacher. The rules for writing the possessive are the same whether the "s" is there as a pluralising suffix or not.
Friday, October 15, 2004, 08:03 GMT
Dan,
It's not about words ending in the phoneme /s/. It's a question of which letter it ends with. "Ounce" ends with /s/ but you'd write "The ounce's volume depends on what standard you're using." "Dogs" ends with /z/ but you'd write "The dogs' barks are worse than their bites."
Saturday, October 16, 2004, 15:34 GMT
I was taught to write "James' (something)" and according to that, "James's" would be incorrect.
Saturday, October 16, 2004, 15:39 GMT
Then it's just a matter of convention. According to Strunk and White it would be apostrophe s regardless of the final letter (http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk.html#1).
Saturday, October 16, 2004, 17:20 GMT
Streets / squares in the UK:
St James's Square, Edinburgh St James's Palace, London St Giles Street, Edinburgh St Giles High Street, London St Silas' Place, Edinburgh in most maps. But the street signs simply say St Silas Place. I'm not sure why Silas is different. It just seems more natural to say St James's than it is to say St Silas's for some reason. Mjd is correct...you can say "this is James's book" or "this is James' book". Different publishers use their own standard version of these possessive forms in the case of names ending in "s". In general , just add an apostrophe at the end of plural words ending in "s": These are the ladies' rooms. |