• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Positioning of apostrophe

Regarding the apostrophe and words which end in "s". The apostrophe follows the "s" and an additional "s" is not added.

Silas' cat
NOT Silas's cat

Semi-colon, probably the least understood bit of punctuation. There are a few ways in which you can use them but I like to think of them as commas on steroids. They have a bit more power than a comma but are short of a period. One way I use them is to set off a long list that is contained within a sentence.

Cat's are highly specialized creatures. Designed for an arrid lifestyle, they have some unique physiological characterisics; high urine specific gravity, low water requirements, economical protein metabolism, and a nocturnal lifestyle. :D
 
There are any number of Style Manuals that speak to these questions, although not necessarilly with one voice. And, in any event, they take the fun out of the discussion. :D
Peder
 
Peder said:
One handy use for semi-colons is for people who write long sentences that list a number of individually longish items which, for example, might illustrate the stages of evolution of knowledge about punctuation, such as children discussing punctuation on their way to school; the same children walking home and discussing what they learned, after having discussed the matter with their respective teachers in class; parents talking things over among themselves and with their (own) children; and, finally, everyone -- children, parents, and teachers -- looking things up in the punctuation Appendices of their respective, and perhaps old, Webster's Collegiate Dictionaries, when they all finally get home at night. Single semi-colons are often seen between tightly related coordinate thoughts; full stops can often seem intrusive and choppy. All of which may not exactly be correct, or even remotely correct, or even phrased properly, but which can certainly be parsed out into separate free standing sentences with full stops between. Teachers frequently give such assignments for homework, or just for torture. Never mind Nabokov! What does he know? Better to ask Proust! So, all in all, sometimes semi-colons act like exalted commas; dashes like somewhat exalted parentheses (for ideas interjected in the middle of complete thoughts), but not for merely clarifying or expanding the meaning of words used in the sentence, as parenthetical comments do; and posessive apostrophes are always followed by "s"s nowadays even though the cat of Silas used to be taught to be acceptable as "Silas' cat." None of which may be correct, but all of which avoid those grammarians' horrors, the run-on sentence and the comma splice. Editors, grab your pencils! But, for much more amusing reading, one might try "Why I Live Down at the P.O." by Eudora Welty, which is where I may have learned the style. And that's only a beginning; more could be said (to paraphrase a mod). So don't get me started! :)
Now for breakfast,
And coffee,
Peder
Click to expand...

Holy punctuation point, Peder. I knew I could count on you, but the above has gone entirely beyond my wildest expectations.

In other words: Who was that masked man?

ai38.photobucket.com_albums_e122_stillilearn_pedertoes.jpg
 
StillILearn said:
Holy punctuation point, Peder. I knew I could count on you, but the above has gone entirely beyond my wildest expectations.

In other words: Who was that masked man?

ai38.photobucket.com_albums_e122_stillilearn_pedertoes.jpg
Click to expand...
SIL,
I often do wear a white shirt and dark trousers like that guy in the background. Have gun, will travel! My horse is parked around the corner. :D
Still love that picture SIL! :)
Peder
 
Oh SIL! All I can say is its a good thing I left my tea in the other room, otherwise my monitor would be soaked with it!

I just love that picture!! :D
 
That's Peder sauntering off to Borders to have his initial infusion of caffeine for the day and a small read. Still is the one who has just been felled like a sapling in a snowstorm by TBF's very own virtuoso of verbiage.
 
Peder said:
SIL,
I often do wear a white shirt and dark trousers like that guy in the background. Have gun, will travel! My horse is parked around the corner. :D
Still love that picture SIL! :)
Peder
Click to expand...
Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam................:cool:
 
pontalba said:
Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam................:cool:
Click to expand...
Pontalba,
Huh? I can see where I have to be very careful what I say in this literary crowd. :eek: However, google led me to wikipedia (where else?)

Paladin

which was very informative, but also included one of the most absolutely side-splittingly hilarious non-sequiturs in all the history of writing about King Arthur, Charlemagne and Roland. (Hint: "There was a ..... ")

And I am still ROTFL,
:D :D :D
Many thanks Pontalba!
Peder
 
Right, having found my copy of Lynne Truss'(s!) Eats, Shoots and Leaves, I will quote the following:

Lynne Truss said:
"Current guides to punctuation state that with modern names ending in "s" (including biblical names, and any foreign names with an unpronounced final "s"), the "s" is required after the apostrophe:

Keats's poem
Philippa Jones's book
St James's Square

With names from the ancient world, it is not:

Archimedes' screw
Achilles' heel

If the name ends in an "iz" sound, an exception is made:

Bridges' score
Moses' tablets

And an exception is always made for Jesus:

Jesus' disciples

However, these are matters of style and preference that are definitely not set in stone... there are no absolute rights and wrongs in this matter."
Click to expand...

So basically, do what you want! :D Just please don't write "the dog wagged it's tail" or "I wonder who's cat that is?" or I'll get very annoyed. ;)
 
Halo said:
Right, having found my copy of Lynne Truss'(s!) Eats, Shoots and Leaves, I will quote the following:
So basically, do what you want! :D Just please don't write "the dog wagged it's tail" or "I wonder who's cat that is?" or I'll get very annoyed. ;)
Click to expand...

I bought about six copies of Eats, Shoots and Leaves, and I still write who's sometimes.

(Please may I have your signature line now?) :)
 
Halo said:
Right, having found my copy of Lynne Truss'(s!) Eats, Shoots and Leaves, I will quote the following:

So basically, do what you want! :D Just please don't write "the dog wagged it's tail" or "I wonder who's cat that is?" or I'll get very annoyed. ;)
Click to expand...
Halo,
That is the clearest complicated explanation I have ever seen! :D Seriously!
Many thanks, :)
Peder
 
pontalba said:
:eek: Um, Peder. Thats a marvelous link, and I did enjoy it immensely.....not that paladin..... This one http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050025/
Masked man vs have gun will travel.......;)
The (more or less) contemporary version.
Click to expand...
Pontalba,
That clearly slipped completely by me! But -- and you won't believe this -- the quote they give there sounds exactly my son speaking, the one from Texas no less! :eek: He must have come across Paladin sometime. :D
Now I know,
Peder
 
Peder said:
Pontalba,
That clearly slipped completely by me! But -- and you won't believe this -- the quote they give there sounds exactly my son speaking, the one from Texas no less! :eek: He must have come across Paladin sometime. :D
Now I know,
Peder
Click to expand...
Well it has been in reruns for decades, but I have to admit I saw it when it first came out. My father started me on it. It was a different kind of western for those days.

we return your computer screen to its regularly scheduled program, er thread.....:)
 
Peder said:
Halo,That is the clearest complicated explanation I have ever seen! :D Seriously!
Many thanks, :)
Peder
Click to expand...

Blame/credit Lynne Truss, not me! :D

StillILearn said:
I'll ask again later when you need money or a favor
Click to expand...

I always need money... :( Perhaps I could hire it out to you and get a regular income.
 
Halo said:
Blame/credit Lynne Truss, not me! :D



I always need money... :( Perhaps I could hire it out to you and get a regular income.
Click to expand...
Hey! For a piece of the action, I'll broker the deal! LOL :D :cool:
 
pontalba said:
Hey! For a piece of the action, I'll broker the deal! LOL :D :cool:
Click to expand...

Don't you agree that it's the best darn signature line around?

I could say more, but you get the ...:D I think I actually covet it! ;)
 
What about mines? As in "That cat looks just like mines," or "That cat looks like mineses." Should an apostrophe be used in both instances? :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top