Possessive plural problems
The current rules regarding possessive plurals have been with us for about a century. Because in English possessive and plural nouns both end with an s, a word expressing ownership of something by a group would end with s’s – the players’s manager. It looks a little neater, and reflects vocalisation of the word better, to write the word as players’.
This page attempts to explain acceptability over two problem areas.
Possessive singulars ending with an s
Some words that end in s (bus, James, Jesus) can also be possessive. These words are often treated as possessive plurals (bus’, James’, Jesus’).
There are many accepted rules regarding such words. Monosyllabic words will usually have ’s at the end (the bus’s wheels), and words with a zed (zee) sound rather than an ess sound (e.g. James) seem to work better with ’s than with only an apostrophe (St James's Park). As a general rule, it's best to read the word out loud or even to see how the variations flow within the sentence. (But James's, James'.)
Plurals not ending in an s
As some words are inherently plural (men, children, sheep, etc.), care must be taken when turning them into possessives. The erroneous "childrens’ clothing" is often seen (when it should be "children’s"). Staying with attire, however, the word "menswear", meaning clothing for men, is accepted as a word in itself, so don't try and stick an apostrophe in it!
Need more info? Discuss words, phrases, spelling and punctuation at the gpuss forum ...
