Further to my blog post about the rules for apostrophes, I’ve been having a very interesting discussion with Matthew Male of Future Perfect – an awesome grammar site from the UK.

He has graciously allowed me to share the following information regarding the use of the apostrophe with surnames ending in ‘S’.

It’s always tricky to know just what to do with people’s names or names of things (proper nouns) ending in -s. Below, you will find out how to know which way to write this. Remember, though, that the written form has no bearing at all on how you then decide to say each possessive form aloud.

Let’s get technical…

What you must do is say the name (just the name on its own) aloud and decide into which of two groups it falls:

• names ending in a non-vocalised s sound (aspirate S or ‘hiss without voice’)
• names ending in a vocalised s sound (sounds like a Z)

Let’s take: Mr Jones:

When you say the name on its own aloud, you get: [Jonz] (sounds like Z at end)
Rule: With the Z group, we add just an apostrophe: Mr Jones’ book

Let’s take: Diana Ross or Chris:

When you say the name on its own aloud, you get: Ross/Chris (sounds like ‘hiss without voice’ S at end)
Rule: With the S group, we add an apostrophe and another ‘s’: Diana Ross’s book

Then, the pronunciation is up to you: [Mister Jonz book/Mister Jonzez book]; [Diana Ross book/Diana Rosses book], but you can write each one only one way.

As in most languages, there are always some exceptions:

• These names can take either form: Jesus’ book; Jesus’s book; Moses’ book; Moses’s book
• Greek names, more than one syllable ending in -s take Z form: Xerxes’ army; Socrates’ wife
• Idiomatic phrases: for goodness’ sake; for conscious’ sake

I trust you find this further information on the apostrophe useful!

© Lyn Prowse-Bishop, http://www.execstress.com/