Grammar Note

Sometimes, I like a blog because it is a place just to “put things out there” that perhaps the world would want to know.

I have always felt like I wasn’t sure if the possessive form of something that ends in s should look like this Dickens’ novel
or like this Dickens’s novel.

I tend to like the second one. So I finally decided to look it up and guess what Chicago Manual of Style says?

Ugg! At first I thought the answer was easy, but it isn’t. There is a whole set of rules depending on if it is a proper noun or not and what the last sound in the word is. For instance, Raoul Camus’s anthology (where the s is pronounced) would look different than Albert Camus’ novels (where the s is unpronounced).

But, lo and behold, rule 7:23 saves us:

7.23 An alternative practice
Those uncomfortable with the rules, exceptions, and options outlined above may prefer the system, formerly more common, of simply omitting the possessive s on all words ending in s—hence “Dylan Thomas’ poetry,” “Maria Callas’ singing,” and “that business’ main concern.” Though easy to apply, that usage disregards pronunciation and thus seems unnatural to many.

So there you have it. According to the Chicago Manual of Style, if you want to make a singular word (or a plural word with a singular meaning, like The United States) that ends in an s possessive, you can just throw an apostrophe on the end of a the word and that’ll do it.