Usage of Apostrophe

[sparsh]

Hi there,

If I have to place a request to have a meeting in the cabin owned by Cirus, which of the following statements is correct?

The meeting is in Cirus's cabin.
The meeting is in Cirus' cabin.

Thanks,

Ajay

[Coffa]

Originally Posted by sparsh

Hi there,
If I have to place a request to have a meeting in the cabin owned by Cirus, which of the following statements is correct?
The meeting is in Cirus's cabin.
The meeting is in Cirus' cabin.
Thanks,
Ajay

Both are correct. The apostrophe is optional when the noun ends in 's'. The usual advice is to use whichever 'sounds' more natural, but this is often of little help to non-native speakers. If you want a guide, add an 's' for a singular noun, and do not for a plural noun - but remember that this is not a rule.

[SW_SN]

Originally Posted by Coffa

Both are correct. The apostrophe is optional when the noun ends in 's'. The usual advice is to use whichever 'sounds' more natural, but this is often of little help to non-native speakers. If you want a guide, add an 's' for a singular noun, and do not for a plural noun - but remember that this is not a rule.

Originally Posted by Coffa

Both are correct. The apostrophe is optional when the noun ends in 's'. The usual advice is to use whichever 'sounds' more natural, but this is often of little help to non-native speakers. If you want a guide, add an 's' for a singular noun, and do not for a plural noun - but remember that this is not a rule.

Hi, I would like to add a bit to this thread - hope you don't mind. I agree that there is no single rule here. Personally, I think adding 's to single-syllable words such as boss or Charles generally sound alright, but it usually sounds awkward when applied to nouns with three or more syllables. In the case of two-syllable nouns, I think 's is ok unless the s or z sound occurs more than once when you say the word.

But having said that, if you were a writer or editor, you would be required to follow the publisher's style guide. For instance, I freelance for a firm that requires me to use The Economist Style Guide. The "guidelines" given here include the following:
1. Use 's with singular words and names ending in s, and
2. Use s' with plurals that end in s (e.g. brothers') and plural names that take a singluar verb (e.g. Reuters').