3 Matching Annotations
- Jun 2022
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www.merriam-webster.com www.merriam-webster.com
- Dec 2021
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www.bartleby.com www.bartleby.com
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Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's. Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write, Charles's friend Burns's poems the witch's malice
Possessive singular ends with 's, excerpt for ancient possessive proper names in -es and -is, Jesus', and "such forms as"(*?) righteousness' and consciousness'. Another is "Achilles' heel" (for the sake of equation let's use R' for Achilles'(/possessor noun) and D for heel(/possessed noun)). Typically "R' D" is replaced by "D of R" i.e. the heel of Achilles, for the sake of consciousness, etc.
*Presumably a noun, not necessarily abstract though perhaps, ending with a "s" sound.
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This is the usage of the United States Government Printing Office and of the Oxford University Press. Exceptions are the possessives of ancient proper names in -es and -is, the possessive Jesus', and such forms as for conscience' sake, for righteousness' sake. But such forms as Achilles' heel, Moses' laws, Isis' temple are commonly replaced by the heel of Achilles the laws of Moses the temple of Isis The pronominal possessives hers, its, theirs, yours, and oneself have no apostrophe.
The pronominal possessives hers, yours, theirs, its, and oneself have no apostrophe.
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