Geoff, Style manuals adopt different conventions for use of *...s'* and *...s's*. My preference is the same as *The New Yorker*'s: The only time an apostrophe alone is added is following a plural *s*. So it's: the car's driver the cars' drivers the bus's driver the buses' drivers Mr. Smith's car the Smiths' cars Ms. Jones's car the Joneses' cars A simple rule to teach students is that if you add an additional "iz" sound to form the possessive, you add *'s*. If no additional sound is added to form the possessive, you add just an apostrophe. Dick Veit On Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 2:49 PM, Geoffrey Layton <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > First [question] involves the formation of the possessive with a proper > name ending in "s." The writer adds “…’s” to Summers’s name in the > possessive case - but shouldn't the possessive be Summers' - or didn't it > used to be? > 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/