Martha,

 

This whole situation is likely to get worse before (if ever) it gets better. In response to Martha’s note about companies that retain errors in their logos, I have noticed a seemingly large number of blog feeds that have totally eliminated apostrophes from the headings on their postings. Thus, a news headline will say, “Bushs new policy hurts states feelings,” instead of “Bush’s new policy hurts states’ (or state’s) feelings.”

 

I think they must be doing this to avoid the problems with ASCII versus other forms of symbol representation between various computer operating formats (I’m guessing here)—so it doesn’t come out as “Bush&#*^*s . . .” or something similar. This solves their electronic symbol problem, but it will only make the already bad “apostrophe knowledge” problem even worse.

 

Of course, some European languages indicate the possessive that way—by simply adding an [s] at the end of the word, without the apostrophe. Is English headed that way? But those languages do not form the plural with [s], as English does, so the morpheme is easily distinguishable from the plural. In English it would create great confusion.

 

 

 

 Bill,

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

 

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/