Since Marcus was born and I first began writing about him (journal, websites, scrapbooks, now blogs), I chose to write "Marcus's" when I needed to use the possessive, basing this on what I remembered from Grammar classes, etc. Now, eight years later, my self-confidence is not what it once was, and before I wrote these last several posts, I did a web search on the issue of possessive nouns ending in "s". According to englishrules.com, at least, my decision is "correct." But the Macmillan College Handbook adds that if a noun has 2 or more syllables, you have the option of using only one apostrophe on the end. I think I'll stick with my way for now.
Also interesting to note: "Exceptions are the possessives of ancient proper names in -es and -is [such as Achilles' and Isis'], the possessive Jesus', and such forms as for conscience' sake, for righteousness' sake." (Strunk and White, The Elements of Style)
The website also had this puzzle (which I didn't figure out before I saw the answer):
"What word can be a plural when an "s" is added to it, and when an additional "s" is added, it becomes singular again?"
(I'll post the answer in the comments)
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3 comments:
The answer is "prince."
"Prince" becomes "princes" then "princess".
I'm avoiding looking to the left to see the answer, but I want to ask whether the word is a plural and then singular of the same word (does that make any sense?) I mean, does the double s just make it a singular word of a different meaning -- like mes and mess or something. (Mes would be plural of me -- as in, the mes in my mind are arguing over whether I should just delete this whole comment and forget it, since we are all getting cricks in our neck from trying to type while not looking to the left.)
I've enjoyed all the posts as you've been catching up on your blog.
Okay, I have three (and I did not look at the answer first):
bra -- bras -- brass
ogre -- ogres -- ogress
and my best:
care -- cares -- caress
(I also came up with "pinto -- pintos -- pintoss. Pintoss is, you know, a game that's kind of a cross between pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and darts.)
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