Plurals

[dr_mabeuse]

Not sure if this is the right venue for this question, & it's not especially earth-shattering, but...

I've got a company named SUS in a story I'm writing, & I want to know if their new product should be SUS' new product or SUS's new product. I believe the first is correct but the second seems 'clearer' to me.

As I say, not exactly earth-shattering.

---dr.M.

 

[karmadog]

Doc, doesn't it depend on what the acronym stands for? Or maybe not. My grammar is probably worse than yours, but at least I'll keep this thread bumped for you. I think WeirdHarold would probably be able to tell you for sure.

 

[Angeline]

Wait I know this

I'm an editor for chrissake


Use an apostrophe after the "S" to show possession of words ending in the letter "S."

So, in your case:

SUS' is correct.

The source for that is my style manual. Written by me. But some of the sources that I used to verify it were Elements of Style, The Chicago Manual of Style, and Words Into Type. Plus other too numerous to mention.

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: Wait I know this

Use an apostrophe after the "S" to show possession of words ending in the letter "S."

However, in this context, SUS is not a word. It depends on what the last S stands for -- or it least that's the case with military acronyms; you treat them as if they were spelled out.

I think I would ue the SUS's form, especially since it "feels right" to you, although either could be considered correct.

The best way to be sure you have it correct is to refer to "the company's new product"

 

[Angeline]

Possession

Well, I would posit that an acronym that stands for a company name (or even if the initials themselves are the name) is a word and, more precisely, a noun, which argues for the apostrophe only style. Note the following from Merriam-Webster Collegiate:

Main Entry: ac·ro·nym
Pronunciation: 'a-kr&-"nim
Function: noun
Etymology: acr- + -onym
Date: 1943
: a word (as NATO, radar, or snafu) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term


Of course, Harold is right that we don't know what, if anything, that last S stands for, so the most "correct" approach is the type of rewrite he suggests.

Editing is art (as opposed to science) much more often than most people realize.

 

[ronde]

Acronyms are treated like words

I was taught that acronyms are treated as words, and therefore are subject to the same rules as words. Thus, the possessive should be SUS', not SUS's.

The other quirk of this "rule" is in the use of "a" and "an". If "SUS" stood for "Super Unique Stuff", the product would be either

a Super Unique Stuff product or an SUS product

The acronym begins with a vowel sound and needs an "an" while the name begins with a consonant sound and needs an "a".

 

[Guest]

The general rule (my source is Hodges' Harbrace Handbook, 14th Edition, Chapter 15a, and applicable Rule 1) is to add an apostrophe and -s after all singular nouns, indefinite pronouns, and acronyms.

Examples:

the dean's office
anyone's computer
NASA's goal
Dickens's novels
Yeats's poems
Parrish's paintings

It does not matter if SUS is singular or plural; it is an acronym and therefore, SUS's is the proper form.

 

[TheEarl]

How strange, I appear to be in the minority. Whenever you are making a possessive, you always add 's, even if the noun ends in s. The only expection is a plural possessive, like "The sisters' basket," which show it's more than one sister's basket.

At least that's what I was always taught.

The Earl

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Acronyms & Apostrophes

Okay. The final "S" is SUS stands for "Systems", so if it were written out in entirety it would be -- -- Systems' New Product (I've forgotten what the "SU" stands for. Doens't matter anyhow)

But: a rule I learned recently says that apostrophes may be used when forming plurals of acronyms that end in S such as:

They didn't respond to our repeated SOS's.

This has nothing to do with what I was originally asking, but I thought I'd just add to the confusion. I don't remember my cource either. I think it was some old HS grammar book I've been dragging around.

---dr.M.