If you’re just writing to write, then choose a method and stick to it. If you’re a student, follow the rules your teacher dictates. The bottom line is this: if what you’re writing must follow a specific stylebook, follow the rules stated there. He called apostrophes “ uncouth bacilli” (rough translation: “awkward bacteria”), and while we’re not sure we’d go that far, this apostrophe anarchy is admittedly a bit unnerving for those who like hard and fast grammar rules. There’s also a camp that says we should make like George Bernard Shaw and do away with apostrophes all together, be it for possessives, contractions, or anywhere else they may live. Others should get an apostrophe and an S. So, it would be: Others, such as the Chicago Manual of Style, say if the word before sake ends in an S, then it should just get an apostrophe. Rule 5: Whether a noun ends in an S or not, if it’s followed by the word sake, most say it just gets an apostrophe. Rule 4: When it comes to singular nouns that are plural words, they typically just get the apostrophe.įor example, the Beatles is a singular noun, but it’s in the form of a plural word. Seuss’s writings or Kenny Rogers’ songs, while others believe they all should also get an additional S. Some people apply it to more recent names as well, such as Dr. Rule 3: According to some, those words with two or more syllables typically just get an apostrophe after the final S, while one-syllable words getting both an apostrophe and an S. When it comes to historical proper names or those found in the Bible, however, there is another rule many choose to follow. Most say possessive words should generally read as you would speak them. Most experts suggest you form the plural form of the word first, then add the apostrophe. Rule 2: Plural nouns, on the other hand, generally don’t get an extra S, just an apostrophe. Tired of embarrassing typos? Let Grammar Coach™ do the heavy lifting, and fix your writing for free! Start now! Plural nouns ending in S To date, no changes have been made, but as you can see, it’s an ever-evolving, highly volatile topic. In 2019, the AP raised quite the ruckus when they tweeted that they were considering adding an S after the apostrophe for singular proper nouns, as in Mavis Staples’s album or Martha Reeves’s concert. To add even more confusion, AP Style also has an exception if the word following the possessive starts with an S, stating that in those cases only the apostrophe should be added. Not everyone agrees with this method, however, and some, such as the Associated Press Stylebook, nod in favor of adding only an apostrophe to make a proper noun possessive, such as: So, using the examples above, it would be: Most experts and guides say you should add an apostrophe and an S to both proper and common nouns to make them possessive even when they end in S. It’s when the car belongs to a person named Chris, or we’re talking about the petals of a crocus that the rules get blurry. Rule 1: In general, you form a possessive singular noun (both proper and common) by adding an apostrophe and the letter S to the end of the word. So let’s take a look at some of the various approaches people take when addressing this possessive. Once it started to be used to show ownership, however, there was never any consensus as to how it should be done properly, and we live with that legacy today. The word apostrophe first appeared around 1580–90, stemming from the Greek word apostroph?, meaning “a turning away,” which makes sense as it was first used in English to represent missing letters in a word. Looking back in history doesn’t help settle the matter either, as the correct use of the apostrophe has always been ambiguous. These sibilant sounds throw people for a loop when they come at the end of a word, with many doing linguistic gymnastics trying to avoid the awkward possessive. It stems from the Latin word meaning “hissing.” It can also be used to describe other letters when they make that same S sound, such as ch, sh, z, and zh. There’s a word for the S sound that trips so many up: sibilant. Why can’t all grammar rules be this simple?) Instead, when it comes to possessives, we have a motley mix of differing guidelines issued by stylebooks, grammarians, and grade school teachers. The issue isn’t as cut and dried as some grammar rules, such as what punctuation is used to end a declarative sentence. Second only to the use of the Oxford comma, the creation of possessives for words ending in S and the S sound is one of the most hotly debated grammar topics in the English language.
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