Please participate in the poll in the left margin of the blog...
Okay, you know how I am the self-appointed Chief of the Grammar Police. Okay, well, Mom is the Chief, but I am up there too. Anyway, here is a test for you... there has been some debate on how to punctuate sentences where Davis is used in the singular possessive form.
How do you correctly punctuate these sentences?
The poll will be open for one week!
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8 comments:
"tense?" for a proper noun? :)
according to the first of the "Elementary Rules of Usage" from The Elements of Style (Strunk & White):
Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's.
Follow the rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write,
Charles's friend
Burns's poems
the witch's malice
Exceptions are the possessive of ancient proper names in -es and -is, the possessive Jesus', and such forms as for conscience' sake, for righteousness' sake.
(wow, i had to learn to use HTML in the comment box to copy that...thanks for the opportunity to gain some knowledge. i'm also still proud that i was able to get my hands on my copy of my handy dandy The Elements of Style)
Is Davis an ancient proper name or a more recent proper name? :)
They do state that Charles should be written as Charles's. It ends in -es. I guess Charles isn't ancient enough? But I see that there have been more votes for Davis' rather than Davis's (all of them as a matter of fact). However, this conclusion is not necessarily logically drawn from Cristina's comment here.
It is the -is sound, and that is from where the confusion comes.
I guess you should just use his middle name when in this situation: That lunch box is Davis Jarrell's lunch box! Or perhaps: That is the lunch box of Davis. - Sandra
There is some confusion here. It is true that the possessive singular of nouns is formed by adding 's. However, according to the AP Stylebook and Libel Manual, singular proper names ending in s should only add an apostrophe. Props to Cristina for consulting Strunk & White (I can't find my copy right now...I think it's at the office), but I can say authoritatively that if you were writing a news article about "Davis' Birthday" it would only have one s!
Cristina, I re-read my post and laughed that I wrote "tense" instead of "form." To make matters worse, I also forgot the question mark in my poll question! Oh well... I have an 8-day old... I will use that excuse for now.
Wow - am I your only non-braniac friend?
I can't find my Strunk & White or my AP Stylebook and Libel Manual - maybe I should look under my stacks of chick lit and celeb tabloids!
(Byproduct of being in graduate school) At the risk of being discovered as the über-nerd that I am, I consulted Kate Turabian's Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, which is based on the Chicago Manual of Style...
3.7 Form the possessive of a proper name in the singular by adding an apostrophe and s.
Jones's book
Stevens's poems
Kinross's farm
3.8 The possessive of the names Jesus and Moses is traditionally formed by adding an apostrophe alone:
in Jesus' name
Moses' leadership
Some of these comments/findings seem to suggest that it should be Davis's.
What about the law of "The Continuous S?
The Continuous S
The rule of grammar states that if a name has more than one syllable and ends in an s, and the last syllable makes an /ez/ sound (like in Texas), then only an apostrophe is needed.
Ex.:
Moses = Moses' book
Jesus = Jesus' glass
Socrates = Socrates' view
Texas = Texas' law
This would lead me to conclude that it is not just that Davis ends in s, but that it ends in the s SOUND that makes it "Davis' birthday."
James's birthday
Charles's birthday
Davis' birthday
Memphis' team
Agreement?
I ain't no expert, I jist calls meself the grammar petrol. Seriously, I thought his name ended in an /is/ sound. All this time it was to be pronounced "Dayvez"? Golly. And I had voted Davis's in the minority.
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