Page 1 of 1
Possessive Apostrophe
Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 9:07 am
by KS10
I am struggling to find the correct answer.
Is it
the princess' hair or the princess's hair?
Some sites say either is ok but to be consistent. Does anyone know for sure?
Re: Possessive Apostrophe
Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 9:33 am
by Okanagan
Modern usage seems to be that you write it as you would say it - so princess's. I suspect if you look at older sources you'll probably find the other version, especially for names - St James' Church or St Thomas' Hospital - althouth London has St James's Park for example - so bang goes that theory!
Re: Possessive Apostrophe
Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 9:37 am
by KS10
Thanks. I was going to check in Eats, Shoots and Leaves but can't find it.
Re: Possessive Apostrophe
Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 9:48 am
by mike1880
I'm sure we've had this question before. I like the advice here:
http://motivatedgrammar.wordpress.com/2 ... ssessives/
So probably princess's dresses (and even princess's scissors imho) but most likely Moses' swimming trunks rather than Moses's.
Re: Possessive Apostrophe
Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 9:51 am
by KS10
Bookmarked!
Re: Possessive Apostrophe
Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 10:56 am
by ginx
Interesting one as my sons both have names ending in "s". I tend to put ***s' rather than ***s's. I'm with you, mike1880, princess's, but not Moses's'.
Re: Possessive Apostrophe
Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 11:16 am
by KS10
I have a vague memory of s' or s's being explained in Eats, Shoot and Leaves - something to do with old names - but I wasn't sure if the same applied to words ending in ss. I must find that book.
Re: Possessive Apostrophe
Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 12:30 pm
by scary mum
Both are correct as far as I know.
Re: Possessive Apostrophe
Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 4:10 pm
by Minesatea
From Eats, shoots and Leaves:
Current guides to punctuation state that with modern names ending in "s", the "s" is required after the apostrophe: Keats's poems, Philippa Jones's book, St James's Square
With names from the ancient world, it is not: Archimedes' screw, Achilles' heel
If the name ends in an "iz" sound, an exception is made: Bridges' score, Moses' tablets
And an exception is always made for Jesus: Jesus' disciples
However, these are matters of style and preference that are definitely not set in stone, and it's a good idea not to get fixated about them.
Re: Possessive Apostrophe
Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 4:15 pm
by KS10
Found it
. It's the section just before that that explains what I was looking for.