0
Ellycat Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
Apostrophe.
Hi, this is the part of grammar that confuses me the most.
For names ending in -s is it always good form to add the s' at the end? For example: Thomas' dog or Charles' house or are there exceptions?
P.S. I sometimes see written down: the dog's bark and the dogs' barks, because in the second example dogs is plural.
Many thanks in advance, and as much information would be greatly appreciated.
For names ending in -s is it always good form to add the s' at the end? For example: Thomas' dog or Charles' house or are there exceptions?
P.S. I sometimes see written down: the dog's bark and the dogs' barks, because in the second example dogs is plural.
Many thanks in advance, and as much information would be greatly appreciated.
Top answer
the dog's bark-- one dog the dogs' barks-- more than one dog Thomas's dogs-- one Thomas Thomases' dogs-- more than one Thomas Socrates' philosophy-- one Socrates Socrateses' philosophies- more than one Socrates. The point being that modern punctuation prefers the 's after singular nouns-- but not plural nouns-- ending in s , but still recognizes the apostrophe only in certain classical names: Socrates', Moses', Jesus'. Nevertheless, the older way ( Charles' dog) is still eminently understandable, and will be corrected only by the most pedantic.
- the dog's bark-- one dog the dogs' barks-- more than one dog Thomas's dogs-- one Thomas Thomases' dogs-- more than one Thomas Socrates' philosophy-- one Socrates Socrateses' philosophies- more than one Socrates.
- The point being that modern punctuation prefers the 's after singular nouns-- but not plural nouns-- ending in s , but still recognizes the apostrophe only in certain classical names: Socrates', Moses', Jesus'.
- Nevertheless, the older way ( Charles' dog) is still eminently understandable, and will be corrected only by the most pedantic.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
4 Answers
0
the dog's bark-- one dog
the dogs' barks-- more than one dog
Thomas's dogs-- one Thomas
Thomases' dogs-- more than one Thomas
Socrates' philosophy-- one Socrates
Socrateses' philosophies- more than one Socrates.
The point being that modern punctuation prefers the 's after singular nouns-- but not plural nouns-- end
the dogs' barks-- more than one dog
Thomas's dogs-- one Thomas
Thomases' dogs-- more than one Thomas
Socrates' philosophy-- one Socrates
Socrateses' philosophies- more than one Socrates.
The point being that modern punctuation prefers the 's after singular nouns-- but not plural nouns-- end
00
Many thanks. I'm still finding it difficult to grasp though. Does your reply stay anywhere on my profile, if I need to look back on it?
00
No, it will drift away slowly. Start a text file, copy and keep it on your computer: that's what I do.
00
What an excellent idea; I shall do that in the future to remind me of the grammatical cases that I am unsure of. [Y]
0
Related Questions