Cynthia,
I don't know the answer to your question, but could point to answers to similar questions.
I do know that the incunabula (books in Latin printed before 1500) have a whole host of little marks to indicate different kinds of abbreviations. Since then we have gotten different letters out of them, as the "z" in "viz." and the "x" in "Rx." The abbreviation for "mister" that consists of "Mr." comes from that convention (no apostrophe), "Sr." for "senior", "Jr." for "junior" and the word "miss" for "mistress" has even gone and lost its period too. (In this case the word acquired a slightly different use and meaning.)
The word "ye" when it means "the" came from a desire to preserve the Old English thorn.
I always spell OK with the two capital letters, yet I've seen it as "okay." I've always OK'd it either way.
I believe these are at the height of convention and conventions change when society loses sight of their reason for being.
Bruce
>>> "Cynthia Baird" <[log in to unmask]> 06/07/06 2:57 PM >>>
Bruce,
In mentioning the loss of the apostrophe in plural letters and numbers you bring up another interesting and frustrating aspect of teaching the proper use of the apostrophe to students. Why was the apostrophe ever used in plural numbers and letters, anyway? I can understand the use if a person or some object belonged to a decade, for example the 1920s, and the apostrophe denoted possession, but why the apostrophe to mark plural? Students are used to seeing the apostrophe as a sign that something has been omitted (as in contractions) or as a sign of possession, but the use of the apostrophe for plurals doesn't seem to follow the "rules" for the apostrophe. I just find the apostrophe to be one ambiguous and frustrating mark!
Fascinating discussion and very relevant to the classroom!
Bruce Despain <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) } For what it's worth the 1889 work by Gordon A. Southworth & F. B. Goddard, Elements of Composition and Grammar
gives some interesting exceptions to the rule:
NOTE 1. In words ending with a sound that resembles that of s, the apostrophe with s forms an additional syllable. Thus: *
James’s; Miss Finch’s [pron. James-ez, Finch-ez].
NOTE 2. The only exception to the rule occurs in such expressions as conscience’ sake, goodness’ sake, righteousness’ sake, Jesus’ sake, where the apostrophe alone is added to avoid the long hissing sound.
I think it is also interesting that the apostrophe has been lost, especially in Britain, in writing the plural of letters and numbers.
Bruce
>>> "Nancy Tuten" <[log in to unmask]> 06/05/06 10:10 PM >>>
Thanks for sharing that article, Paul.
I found one point odd, though: the authors suggest that grammarians widely favor putting only the apostrophe (and not an additional “s”) after singular nouns that end in “s.” Although I run into people in my business writing seminars frequently who have been taught that rule, it is not espoused by Chicago, MLA, or APA. In fact, until tonight, I had been unable to find it in print anywhere. Those three very reputable style guides (and a host of others) prescribe putting the apostrophe and an additional “s” after all singular nouns, whether they end in “s” or not.
We can have fun debating the merits of such rules, but what do you tell your students to do when they ask? I usually resort to explaining the whole notion of style guides and differences among disciplines, but first- and second-year students glaze over.
Nancy
Nancy L. Tuten, PhD
Professor of English
Director of the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Program
Columbia College
Columbia, South Carolina
[log in to unmask]
803-786-3706
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul E. Doniger
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2006 9:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Possessive form
Of course, life is probably more complicated than Wikipedia will allow. I believe that the history of the apostrophe as apossessive marker is also more complex. You might want to check out the following paper:
http://www.american.edu/tesol/wpkernodlecavella.pdf
I sheds some light, or rather thins out some fo the shadow, on this history.
More to the point, I think, is the question of what's happening to the apostrophe now. It seems to me that it's dying a slow, agonizing death! I for one will miss it (of course. Bernard Shaw ignored it, and no one seems to think the less of him because of that!).
Paul D.
----- Original Message ----
From: Max Morenberg <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, June 5, 2006 9:16:26 PM
Subject: Re: Possessive form
Peter,
I haven't read into the history of punctuation in a long time. But I think the "his" story has little or no reality. Here is the wikipedia.com explanation:
Despite the above, the English possessive did originate in a genitive case. In Old English, a common singular genitive ending was -es. The apostrophe in the modern possessive marker is in fact an indicator of the e that is "missing" from the Old English morphology. . . .
The 18th century explanation that the apostrophe might replace a genitive pronoun, as in "the king's horse" being a shortened form of "the king, his horse", is erroneous (a construction which actually occurs in German dialects and has replaced the genitive there, together with the "of" construction that also exists in English).
Ain't wikipedia great?
Max
I seem to remember reading somewhere that the "'s" was actually a contraction
for "his." I think when a person who doesn't write makes a mark on a
document, we write undert it "John Doe his mark." This is the "his" that is now
contracted into "'s." Any truth to this?
Peter Adams
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<HTML><FONT FACE=3Darial,helvetica><HTML><FONT COLOR=3D"#000000" FACE=3D"Gen=
eva" FAMILY=3D"SANSSERIF" SIZE=3D"2">I seem to remember reading somewhere th=
at the "'s" was actually a contraction for "his." I think when a pers=
on who doesn't write makes a mark on a document, we write undert it "John Do=
e his mark." This is the "his" that is now contracted into "'s." =
; Any truth to this?<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Peter Adams<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR=3D"#000000" FACE=3D"Geneva" FAMILY=3D"SANSSERIF" SIZE=3D"=
2"></FONT></HTML>
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