Say “ass…”, now write it with an apostrophe
I filed this one under "Research" category, as there is a serious purpose to this.
Mark Liberman posts today about the ambiguity around apostrophes, triggered by Justice Scalia’s inconsistence in writing possessives forms of nouns that end with an "S". Mark sides with Scalias, confessing a lack of knowledge and authority.
However, where there is confusion, there is law. Joseph Ruby writes:
S sounds like z (Adams) — no additional s — Adams’
S sounds like s (Kansas) — add the s — Kansas’sThis is not original with Scalia. See, e.g., http://www.kentlaw.edu/academics/lrw/grinker/LwtaApostrophes.htm. It may be Supreme Court style for all I know.
PS- the Illinois corollary appears to be that when the s is silent, no additional s is required. The apostrophe indicates that the silent s is now to be sounded.
To cite some of the rules from the aforementioned URL Apostrophes:
When a student submits written work to a professor or to a law firm, no mistake will stand out more or create a more negative impression of that student’s work than the mistaken use — or nonuse — of apostrophes. It is therefore critical that you master these simple, yet often-confused, rules.
1. Plain plural words do not require the use of an apostrophe. For example:
Incorrect: The lawyer’s could generally be found after hours at the Hanover Street Bar and Grill. (The apostrophe here incorrectly indicates a singular possessive.)
Incorrect: The lawyers’ could generally be found after hours at the Hanover Street Bar and Grill. (The apostrophe here incorrectly indicates a plural possessive.)
Correct: The lawyers could generally be found after hours at the Hanover Street Bar and Grill. (The lack of an apostrophe here correctly indicates a plural, nonpossessive term.)
2. In singular possessive terms, place the apostrophe before the "s." This will indicate ownership by one person or thing. For example:
Incorrect: Our schools collection included an original set of Blackstone’s Commentaries.
Incorrect: Our schools’ collection included an original set of Blackstone’s Commentaries.
Correct: Our school’s collection included an original set of Blackstone’s Commentaries.
3. In plural possessive terms, place the apostrophe after the "s." This will indicate to the reader that more than one person or thing owns the thing possessed.
Incorrect: The students success was largely attributable to their hard work and dedication.
Incorrect: The student’s success was largely attributable to their hard work and dedication.
Correct: The students’ success was largely attributable to their hard work and dedication.
4. How to distinguish "its" and "it’s."
"It’s" is the contraction of "it is," as in the sentence, "It’s best not to question the judge’s knowledge of the laws of evidence in open court." In formal writing, however, one generally should not use contractions. Thus, the better formulation of the sentence above would be: "It is best not to question the judge’s knowledge of the laws of evidence in open court."
"Its" is a possessive, as in the sentence, "The truck lost its muffler as it entered the pothole-laden Kennedy Expressway." This is the rare case in which a possessive term does not take an apostrophe.
5. A less-often faced decision involves the use of apostrophes where multiple owners are named. Where two or more people own one item jointly, place an apostrophe before an "s" only after the second-named person. For example:
Incorrect: Bill’s and Mary’s car was a lemon, leading them to seek rescission of their contract under the state’s lemon law.
Correct: Bill and Mary’s car was a lemon, leading them to seek rescission of their contract under the state’s lemon law.
However, when two or more people own two or more items separately, each individual’s name should take the possessive form. For example:
Incorrect: Joanne and Todd’s cars were bought from the same dealer; both proved useless, even though Joanne’s car was an import and Todd’s was a domestic model.
Correct: Joanne’s and Todd’s cars were bought from the same dealer; both proved useless, even though Joanne’s car was an import and Todd’s was a domestic model.
6. When creating the possessive form of words ending in "s," use only an apostrophe after the "s" if the word ends in a "z" sound. However, if the word ends in an "s" sound use an apostrophe and an additional "s" to create the possessive.
Less Desirable: He was a student in Professor Adams’s class.
More Desirable: He was a student in Professor Adams’ class.
However: He was a student in Professor Weiss’s class.
Nobody, with possible exceptions of law students, actually follow these rules. But they are there for a good reason. These are orthographic constraints that conspire to serve one purpose — to reduce surface orthograhpic reduplications — while keeping other priorities (morphology, inflections, etc.) as clearly marked as possible. These examples may eventually be figured into our analysis, but for now, surfice it to say that what matters at the end of the day is the principle, not the rules.
PS: I have to ask as a non-native speaker: how do you say Kansas’s (or Kansas’, or whatever)? Is the possesive /s/ actually pronounced or even hinted in anyway?