The invisible S

[dougo]

I was taught that the possessive form of a singular noun should always end with apostrophe + s. It was considered uncouth but permissible to leave off the s after the apostrophe if the noun ended in s, but the invisible s at the end was always pronounced, such as in the old advertising slogan "Thomas' promises". But lately I've been noticing that people (on TV) have been dropping the s even in pronunciation: "Katie Holmes' baby", "Britney Spears' divorce", "Michael Richards' career". I realize that language rules are descriptive not prescriptive, and the fact that it's already widely accepted in mass media means it will probably become the new rule, but I still find it grating and I wish I could reverse the tide.

Edit: I just realized my examples all have a "z" sound at the end, whereas "Thomas" does not. But I've also heard people pronounce "Jesus'" without the invisible s. (Wikipedia, quoting Hart's Rules, calls this "an accepted liturgical archaism" but I think that only applies to the spelling, not pronunciation.)

Comments

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

I was taught that you add the following s only if you would have pronounced it, in which case most of those would be perfectly correct, except for Thomas' Promises, which would be Thomas's Promises to make sense.

I suggest a cage match between our teachers.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

I was taught that you add the following s only if you would have pronounced it

But how were you taught to pronounce it?

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

I don't think I was taught a specific way to pronounce it. whatever came naturally, I suppose.

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

Also, neat icon. Very apropos.

[lauradi7.livejournal.com]

Rule # 1 in The Elements of Style (dissed a lot in the past few years, but still widely quoted)is "Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's. They specifically exempt Moses, Jesus, and other -s holy people (like Isis) and say it's better to say "the laws of Moses" or something like that. Then they go on to emphasize the correct spelling of hers and its and the like.

[mshonle.livejournal.com]

I drop the s when it wouldn't be pronounced, such as "the programmers' project". The plural possessive is what's tricky.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Plural possessive isn't that tricky, you just don't add an s if it already ends in s (or x or z). The tricky thing about "the programmers' project", or a better example is "programmers' manual", is it's not clear if it should be singular or plural: is it a manual for a programmer, or a manual for programmers?

[prusik.livejournal.com]

I think this is a style book issue (along with, for example, the serial comma).

IIRC, Strunk and White insists as you do that the possessive singular always ends with apostrophe + s. I think one of their examples uses "Charles's" just to hammer the point. I think people drop it because it sounds clunky and there is little chance of misunderstanding. I write "Jesus's", "Charles's", "Katie Holmes's baby" anyways.

(BTW, this is unlike the serial comma where it's easier to find cases where not using it leads to ambiguity. The canonical example is the hypothetical book dedication "To my parents, Ayn Rand and God." I believe there are also cases where using the serial comma leads to ambiguity, but I think they are less common.)

[dougo.livejournal.com]

There's little chance of misunderstanding in print, but when it's spoken, you can't hear the apostrophe, so pronuncing that extra syllable makes it clear. Then you could, for example, tell the difference between Mrs. Fields' cookies and Mrs. (Sally) Field's cookies.

[lilituc.livejournal.com]

I've never said "Mrs. Fields' cookies," only "Mrs. Fields cookies" so I checked. No apostrophe.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Good point. It's actually "Mrs. Fields® Cookies".

[lilituc.livejournal.com]

And they're not even made from real Mrs. Fields.

[lilituc.livejournal.com]

This is what I was taught as well, although over the years I've found many people will argue about it. I always pronounce the extra "s" sound.