Calling grammar experts!

[Route66Girl]

What is the proper way to express a person's name in the possessive sense if the last letter of their name is an "s"?

Would you write "Chris's lust"?
or "Chris' lust"?

I've seen it done both ways. "Chris's" makes the most sense to me, but I'm not sure...?

 

[Axeltheswede]

grammar question

Chris' lust is the correct way but of course this is English we're talking about. No one will smack you for the other way.

 

[Whispersecret]

"Chris' lust" is what I was taught in school. Since then I've found in Strunk and White's Elements of Style, that they prefer "Chris's lust." Therefore, I assume both are acceptable.

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

What is the proper way to express a person's name in the possessive sense if the last letter of their name is an "s"?

Would you write "Chris's lust"?
or "Chris' lust"?

I've seen it done both ways. "Chris's" makes the most sense to me, but I'm not sure...?

:
The general rule is to form the possessive by adding "'s"
EVEN WHEN the name ends in s.
:
I've seen exceptions cited, Moses' laws, Jesus' sake.
I've seen that explained by the antiquity of the names; on
the other hand, the examples shown ALREADY end in a double
s sound.
Anyway, it would be Chris's lust.
A good source for this sort of question is the *Little,
Brown Handbook*. (It is not particularly brown and is by no means little. It comes from the publishing house, Little Brown.)

 

[Wessexfairie]

FONT=arial]As an English teacher in real time, I have to teach this particular point to my students. If you are indicating the singular possessive, you need to use the apostrophe s regardless of the ending of the last name. When I was in high school, there were a series of arcane rules about how to show possession. I am grateful that it has been simplified. My favorite handy dandy book on grammar is Strunk and White's Elements of Style. It is an inexpensive volume, but as a writer and an English instructor I can't imagine doing without it[/FONT]

 

[Route66Girl]

Thanks folks!

"Chris's" it is, then!

Looks like I'm going to have to pick up a copy of Elements of Style.

Thanks again

 

[Justin_Thyme]

Hey all, thanks for the grammar references. Now I must hop on over to my fav Browne and Noble and see if I can find one of them as I have long forgotten the grammar lessons from HS Freshman English class. (1946-47).
I KNOW we were taught (had to look that one up) to show the possesive of a name that ends with an 's' as ending with an apostrophe (Jones' vs. Jonses).
I also suspect, from observing the work of others, my use of commas is excessive. I was taught (there's that word again) to say the sentence aloud and, wherever there is a natural pause, poke in a comma.
*Sigh* Why on earth won't anything stay unchanged long enough to get used to the the way it was? Or, at least, the way I remember it was.
Justin

 

[Monazwx]

Looking at Elements of Style

I thought that it was supposed to be Chirs' Route66Girl, but I'm looking through the book right now. It says, "form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's; Follow this rule whatever the final consonant."

So, you're right, Chris's it is!
Will definitely remember this grammar lesson.

 

[Guest]

For Chris'ake 'twas Chris's idea

 

[LuckOfTheDraw]

I was taught in school, by Wren and Martin (anyone else here who had to suffer this particular torture?), that Chris's was the short form of 'Chris is'. That made sense, because then can't , shan't etc made sense, although don't, and won't etc did not. Chriss' had to be remembered in the same way as one remembered trignometry formulae and the conversion of Farenheit to Centigrade.

I believe Fowlers' Modern English Usage supports this poinyt of view.

There's no accounting for the English!

 

[jon.hayworth]

Apostrophes, the bain of every author's style. I opened my copy of THE TIMES Guide to English Style and Usage - the wordbook used by journalists who work for the Times of London.
This is what it says.-

"apostrophes with proper names/nouns ending in s that are singular, follow the rule of writing what is voiced, eg, Keats's poetry, Sobers's batting, The Times's style (or Times style); but note Achilles' heel; and with names where the final s is soft, use s', eg Rabelais' writings, Delors' presidency; plurals follow the normal form, eg, Lehman Brothers' loss etc.

"Beware of organisations that have variations as their house style, eg, St Thomas' Hospital, where we must respect their whim.

"Also, take care with apostrophes with plural nouns, eg, women's, not womens'; children's, not childrens'; people's, not peoples'.

"An apostrophe should be used to indicate the plural of single letters, eg, p's and q's."

Sorry if this has been longwinded, but I find this journalists' wordbook invaluable for solving these problems quickly. Most major national newspapers in the UK produce a wordbook, but to my knowledge only the Times is published for sale.

Hope this missive has been of some help.

jon

 

[Route66Girl]

That's interesting, jon

Following the general rule to write it as it's spoken makes sense.

Your "missive" wasn't longwinded at all. Thank you for taking the trouble to write it.

I've certainly been getting some good tips here!

 

[Closet Desire]

Strunk's...

...is a great resource and the literary world would be a better place if everyone had read it BUT it does contain some archaic usage and things to watch for. Things do change.

If you're in the US the MLA Handbook is considered the authority on usage so here 'tis:

2.2.7. e. To form the possessive of any singular proper noun, add an apostrophe and an s.

Ditto says the Chicago Manual of Style.

Both are excellent, concise references and the latter can be picked up for a couple of dollars at Barnes and Noble.

Personally it always makes me think of a snake to see all those ss slithering around at the end of a word but who am I to fight tradition?

The other thing to watch is differences in UK usage, including punctuation. What an interesting life to be an American writing a dissertation at at British Uni.