Total Pageviews

Monday, September 18, 2017

Apostrophe Angst

     Does apostrophe correctness plague you as you write?  Do you feel anxious wondering what the rule is for an apostrophe used to form a possessive with a noun ending in s

     First, here's a little quiz.  Do you know which of the following are correct?

A.  Did you see Tess's new car?

B.  Did you see Tess' new car?

C.  Are you amazed by Hercules's strength?

D.  Are you amazed by Hercules' strength?

     Don't let your apostrophe choices stress you. The rule is easy to understand. 

 Rule:

To form the possessive case of a singular noun, add an apostrophe and an s.

Examples

boy's hat          the boss's office          Helen's dress          for heaven's sake


*When a word of more than one syllable ends in an s sound, the singular possessive may be formed by adding the apostrophe alone.  This omission avoids the awkward hiss of repeated s sounds.

Examples

the witness' testimony          for conscience' sake          Mr. Rodriguez' car         

     So, the correct answers above are A, C, and D.  Yes, both C and D are correct, but D sounds better.

     I hope this rule refresher takes away some of your angst when using an apostrophe with a possessive  ending in an s soundHappy Apostrophing!

4 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for sharing this information here wit h us. I hope it is useful for many visitors.
    English Practice App | English Learning App

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for sharing great post. I really like this post.Boarding School In Gujarat

    ReplyDelete
  3. Here is a list of English grammar topics with explanations and exercises. You can use the search field to find the topic you need. I recommend to do each exercise more than once because every time you start an exercise you get a new, randomly mixed set of questions.
    https://lingbase.com/en/english/grammar

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the blog loaded with so many information. Stopping by your blog helped me to get what I was looking for. Premium hyip templates

    ReplyDelete