4 ms·

My name is James and your site does not seem to respect the ends with s possessive rule. (James'). Thoughts on a fix?

by jamesdwilson 10y ago

Asooka 10y ago
That's because the "ends with s" possessive rule only applies for plurals. The correct possessive of James is "James's"
- rhythmvs 10y ago
  You mean you expected “James’ faithful wife” but got “James’s faithful wife” instead? We could implement it your way, but since – as far as I know – grammar rules* diverge (allowing both orthographies), we opted for the uniform application of the possessive /’s/, which was easier to implement, too. What do you think: should we vary between books, based on the idiom of the original text, or should it be a user preference? (*) http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/apostro.asp http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/apostro.asp
  - Asooka 10y ago
    Well if you ask me personally, it should be "James's" and anyone who disagrees fails English class in school. Of course, I don't make the rules; in fact no one person does and that's the problem here. I doubt there is a big enough number of people who care to customise such a fine detail, so for your product I would just use the rules obeyed in the original text. Or if you don't want to customise on a per-text basis, the rule used by the majority of texts. Or just the easier one, since it's technically correct.
    - rhythmvs 10y ago
      Thanks for the feedback! I agree with you. So, we’ll stick to the orthography of the original text (which in these two cases, Shakespeare and Austen, already were obeying to the majority rule of `’s` instead of `’`). In our generic product, though, users will be able to select and apply their preferences for orthotypography, i.e. such things like single or double quotes (Oxford vs Chicago, British vs American). But when it comes to spelling per se, we will leave it up to the user to go with the ‘correct’ form of English of their liking, and leave the input text untouched.
yaddddda 10y ago
Jim's.

My name is James and your site does not seem to respect the ends with s possessive rule. (James'). Thoughts on a fix?

Asooka 10y ago

That's because the "ends with s" possessive rule only applies for plurals. The correct possessive of James is "James's"

rhythmvs 10y ago
You mean you expected “James’ faithful wife” but got “James’s faithful wife” instead? We could implement it your way, but since – as far as I know – grammar rules* diverge (allowing both orthographies), we opted for the uniform application of the possessive /’s/, which was easier to implement, too. What do you think: should we vary between books, based on the idiom of the original text, or should it be a user preference? (*) http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/apostro.asp http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/apostro.asp
- Asooka 10y ago
  Well if you ask me personally, it should be "James's" and anyone who disagrees fails English class in school. Of course, I don't make the rules; in fact no one person does and that's the problem here. I doubt there is a big enough number of people who care to customise such a fine detail, so for your product I would just use the rules obeyed in the original text. Or if you don't want to customise on a per-text basis, the rule used by the majority of texts. Or just the easier one, since it's technically correct.
  - rhythmvs 10y ago
    Thanks for the feedback! I agree with you. So, we’ll stick to the orthography of the original text (which in these two cases, Shakespeare and Austen, already were obeying to the majority rule of `’s` instead of `’`). In our generic product, though, users will be able to select and apply their preferences for orthotypography, i.e. such things like single or double quotes (Oxford vs Chicago, British vs American). But when it comes to spelling per se, we will leave it up to the user to go with the ‘correct’ form of English of their liking, and leave the input text untouched.

yaddddda 10y ago

Jim's.