Bill,
Your post on my email list was surrounded by the usual spam.
Directly following your line was one from Lands' End ("Stock up
on Women's Turtlenecks"). Yes, Lands'. I once wrote
to them, at the behest of my class, to ask about their apostrophe.
They explained, via form letter, that the original sign painter or
printer (or whoever) had made the mistake--and they decided to retain
it as their signature.
And then there's Howard Johnson's, which was officially changed
to Howard Johnsons. I wonder if Howard himself is now
plural!
Martha
As one of my previous posts probably
indicated, I tend to reach for The Chicago Manual of Style to
resolve punctuation questions; it acknowledges some of the variation
in editorial practice on the apostrophe issue (I do, however, point
out to journalism majors in my classes that the AP style is different,
and that they'd best follow that one).
Last spring, as part of the discussion of
apostrophes, I put a copy of the relevant section from the
Manual up on the overhead simply as an example of what a detailed
attempt to approach the issue could look like. One of the students
noticed the section that stated that Jesus and Moses
constituted exceptions, in that - because of established practice -
they just get the apostrophe, even though the Manual recommends
apostrophe + s for most other cases with stem-final -s. She then
asked a question that got the class actually engaged in the
discussion: "Do we just use the apostrophe for Jesus Jesus,
or do we do that with other people named Jesus too?" I told
them I had absolutely no idea, and then asked them to argue both sides
of the issue. Now if only something similarly interesting would happen
with the semicolonŠ.
Bill Spruiell
Dept. of English
Central Michigan University
From: Assembly for the Teaching of
English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
STAHLKE, HERBERT F
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 9:51 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Britney Spears' talent--or Britney Spears's
talent?
As Dick's examples of variation
indicate, both forms are found widely. I was taught, a half
century ago, which is no evidence of authority, to use only the
apostrophe if the -s belonged to the stem. However, the fact
that in speech the two s so frequently reduce to one reflects a common
phonological process called haplology, by which a sequence of two
identical or similar forms reduces to one, as in "probably" >
"probly."
Herb
First an anecdote. Then a
topic.
The anecdote: My wife and I often
pass a used-car lot with a big sign that reads LARRYS' (ending in an
apostrophe). In our smug, professorial way, we assumed that the owner
was confused about punctuation, and we jokingly referred to the place
as Larry-ziz. As we later learned, the lot is owned by two guys
named Larry, who knew their punctuation after all. We still call it
Larry-ziz, though.
The topic: English usage mavens
are divided about the treatment of possessive nouns ending in s. Style
sheets all agree that a word ending in plural -s takes only an
apostrophe for the possessive: the families' homes, several
students' homework.
They are not in agreement, however, about
the possessive form of nonplural nouns ending in s. Do you add just an
apostrophe or apostrophe + s? Is it "Britney Spears'
monumental talent" or "Britney Spears's monumental talent"?
Some style sheets stipulate apostrophe + s for short nouns
(Lois's friends) and only apostrophe for longer ones (Socrates'
death). The division among authorities in this matter means places a
burden on faculty. So what do we teach?
On the grounds that simple is better than
complicated, I tell students to use a sound test. If you hear the
iz sound in such words, add 's. Otherwise, just
apostrophe. So it's Ms. Jones's house (pronounced Jones-iz). But
what's the possessive of Socrates? If you say "Sock-ra-teez-iz
death," then it's Socrates's; if you say "Sock-ra-teez death,"
then it's just Socrates'. By the way, I understand there is a St.
James's Park in London (pronounced with the iz) and a St.
James' Park in Newcastle (no iz).
Of course apostrophe use is never simple.
Consider, for example, 'Do's and Don'ts." But that's another
topic.
Dick Veit
________________________________
Richard Veit
Department of English
University of North Carolina Wilmington
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