Possessive s: Having it both ways

[Bob Haas]

I teach this exact usage to students who care to learn about possessives.  I
got it years ago from a handbook, the name of which, I'm sorry to say, I
know longer remember.

The example I use is Dickens.

Dickens' _David Copperfield_  or
Dickens's _David Copperfield-

It depends on whether the writer includes the possessive inflection with the
-s ending already on these problematic names or words.

One last point, my own name.  I don't think anyone would say Bob Haas'
house.  They might write it and mean Bob Haas's house.  One needs the extra
"s" on the end of my name to form a proper possessive.

bob
writing from Bob Haas's house

> From: P2052 at AOL.COM
> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 11:25:58 EDT
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Possessive s: Having it both ways
>
> I thought that pronunciation determined whether or not the 's is added to a
> name already ending in -s.  For example, if one pronounces the possessive
> form of Jesus as Je-sus, then only the apostrophe is used (Jesus').  However,
> if one pronounces it as Je-sus-es, then one uses the 's (Jesus's).   I don't
> remember where I heard (or read) this, but it seemed plausible, so I
> internalized it.  If it's not, please advise.
> PAT