Possessive s

[virus99]

Hi forum.

Here a quote from CNN:

Baghdatis' reward was a semifinal against France's Julien Benneteau, who won 6-2 6-4 against U.S-based Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr.

The player's name is Marcos Baghdatis. Shouldn't it be Baghdatis's reward...?

Thanks for helping!

[SirGod]

* Not a teacher

No. When the word ends in "s" you do not add the possessive "s" (also called Saxon genitive) anymore, just the apostrophe.

[virus99]

Argh. There seem to be more rules for this. This is what I found in an English grammar section:

Charles's toys.

It says that after names (singular) that end with s we use another 's.

Could it be that there are two valid rules for this matter? Or is this another American English - English -English issue? Or should I just go and buy another grammar book?

[bhaisahab]

Argh. There seem to be more rules for this. This is what I found in an English grammar section:

Charles's toys.

It says that after names (singular) that end with s we use another 's.

Could it be that there are two valid rules for this matter? Or is this another American English - English -English issue? Or should I just go and buy another grammar book?

There is no rule. I use an apostrophe after the "s", others will add apostrophe followed by "s".

[virus99]

So both forms are correct and I myself can decide what to take?

Baghdatis' reward Charles' toys
Baghdatis's reward Charles's toys

Only thing is to be constant then....

[riquecohen]

So both forms are correct and I myself can decide what to take? Yes.

Baghdatis' reward Charles' toys
Baghdatis's reward Charles's toys

Only thing is to be constant then....

Yes. Be consistent.

[Rover_KE]

You can browse the links here if you want more examples and opinions.

Rover

[philo2009]

Hi forum.

Here a quote from CNN:

Baghdatis' reward was a semifinal against France's Julien Benneteau, who won 6-2 6-4 against U.S-based Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr.

The player's name is Marcos Baghdatis. Shouldn't it be Baghdatis's reward...?

Thanks for helping!

Normal practice is to add only an apostrophe after a single s, but 's after a double s. Thus e.g.

Charles' friends

but

Tess's mother.

[5jj]

Normal practice is to add only an apostrophe after a single s, but 's after a double s. Thus e.g.

Charles' friends....but''''Tess's mother.

COCA has 931 examples of James's and 330 of James', so it appears that 's is more common in both cases.

[philo2009]

The omission of the 's' may well be more common in AmE. It is, however, clearly not a point worth arguing about.

EOC