Basic noun question

Question

Hello everyone. my question is regarding apostrophes.
I will ask directly using examples. I am reading a book which has an excercise, and it has made me confused.
example 1) Mel Brooks' original name was Melvin Kaminsky.
example 2) Keep your boss's boss off your boss's back.

both examples are contradicting. book taught a lesson that if a word ends with S, then use S'. but here story is entirely different and confusing.
I referred one of my friend. She says the exact rule is that boss's attitude, and boss' school. if S is comes in the preceded word, then S' other wise not. but with this rule also fails in the case of Mel Brooks'.

Please help. Thank you.

Fivejedjon · Accepted Answer

Anonymous 1) Mel Brooks' original name was Melvin Kaminsky.example 2) Keep your boss's boss off your boss's back.

Opinions differ on this; here is my opinion:

With singular nouns, the 's is always correct: Jesus's disciples, Mel Brooks's original name. my boss's boss.

Some people prefer to omit the s following the apostrophe in words ending in -s; 1. Jesus' disciples,2, Mel Brooks' original name. 3, my boss' boss.
In my opinion, #1 version is common with classical and biblical names, but retaining the s after the apostrophe is the norm;
The #2 version, with proper nouns, is becoming less and less common;
Dropping the s after the apostrophe with common nouns, as in #3, is rare and, to me, seems wrong.

Enoon · Answer

Anonymous Hello everyone. my question is regarding apostrophes.I will ask directly using examples. I am reading a book which has an excercise, and it has made me confused.example 1) Mel Brooks' original name was Melvin Kaminsky.example 2) Keep your boss's boss off your boss's back.both examples are contradicting. book taught a lesson that if a word ends with S, then use S'. but here story is entirely different and confusing. I referred one of my friend. She says the exact rule is that boss's attitude, and boss' school. if S is comes in the preceded word, then S' other wise not. but with this rule also fails in the case of Mel Brooks'. Please help. Thank you.

You are asking about style, and the rules for that are not etched in stone. All you can do is to pick a stylebook and stick with it. That said, there are a few rules everybody agrees on. Plural nouns ending in "s" take only an apostrophe: His girlfriends' cars are all Porsches. Um ... OK, then—one rule everybody agrees on.

I use a simple rule for singular nouns: If you would say the "s", write it, otherwise don't. That gives us "Jesus' name" and "Moses' beard", and also "your boss's school" and "Mel Brooks's movies". Don't forget "for goodness' sake". My rule happens to result in the same spellings as the Chicago Manual of Style recommends.

Your friend's rule is new to me. I don't think that it is useful.

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