which is the right form – business’s or business’?
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Look here for a full explanation of the correct use of apostrophe.
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I read the article on apostrophe on the website you indicated. It does not touch upon my question, unfortunately…
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Both are okay, I believe. Dickens’ and Dickens’s. The difference lies in the pronunciation, though.
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Apostrophes need not be learning catastrophes
by Rolf Palmberg
What is the difference between
The boy’s books are on the table, and
The boys’ books are on the table ?
The position of the apostrophe in a noun (to indicate possession of something) often causes problems for ESL/EFL learners. Yet the rules are simple. In fact, learners only need to decide whether the possessive noun (the possessor, which, by the way, can also be a name) is singular or plural and whether or not it ends in -s in its written form.
The following rules apply:
- If the possessive noun is singular even if it ends in s, always add an apostrophe + s.
- If the possessive noun does not end in -s (in its written form), always add an apostrophe + s.
- If the possessive noun is plural and ends in -s (and this is a characteristic feature of the large majority of plural nouns), just add an apostrophe.
This is why you say James’s books, the children’s books, and even the boss’s books.
This is also why you don’t know whether something belongs to one or several boys until you see the sentence in writing.
To simplify things further, all you really have to remember is Rule 3. If Rule 3 does not apply, always add an apostrophe + s.
(Note that American English does not always follow these rules.)
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Many thanks, Milanya.
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Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation is a non-fiction book written by Lynne Truss.
There is one chapter each on apostrophes and on commas; one on semicolons and colons; one on exclamation marks, question marks, and quotation marks, italic type, dashes, brackets, ellipses, and emoticons; and one on hyphens. Truss touches on varied aspects of the history of punctuation and includes many anecdotes, which add another dimension to her explanations of grammatical rules. In the book’s final chapter, she explains the importance of maintaining punctuation rules and addresses the damaging effects of e-mail and the Internet on punctuation.
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You astound me yet again Milanya. How about a poem, or better still, an essay from you?.
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A poem is here.
I do not like writing essays.
And I like this forum because here I can do what I want to do and nothing more. (You cannot make me to write an essay.) Although I can give you a story, if you do not mind stories, not essays.
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