4 ms·
The article's title makes a daring statement. The possessive of a name ending in s usually uses 's: James's Forbes's Omitting the s after an apostrophe is usu
by salmonellaeater 13y ago
The article's title makes a daring statement. The possessive of a name ending in s usually uses 's:
James's
Forbes's
Omitting the s after an apostrophe is usually reserved for historical or Biblical names (because historically they were pronounced the same as the bare word, as opposed to current pronunciation with the extra -ez sound):
Socrates'
Moses'
Jesus'
Jobs' (?)
- lowkeykiwi 13y agoThats not how we were taught. We always left off the s.
- maaarghk 13y agoIn the UK at least I believe we would stick with the second style every time. edit: lowkeykiwi, you are hellbanned.
- salmonellaeater 13y agoI was assuming American English, since the site is based in New York. Even so, it turns out there is a lot of nuance to this grammatical question. The Chicago Manual of Style (which is for book editing) prescribes 's, while the AP Stylebook and Libel Manual (for press, naturally) prescribes ' only. So since it's an American news site and follows AP guidelines, the title is perfectly normal. Carry on.