From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Drew Adams" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: RE: Possessive apostrophe with singular nouns ending in "s" Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:07:00 -0800 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1330020438 31131 80.91.229.3 (23 Feb 2012 18:07:18 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:07:18 +0000 (UTC) To: "'Glenn Morris'" , Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Thu Feb 23 19:07:14 2012 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([140.186.70.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1S0d4T-0000JB-AO for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:07:13 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:59644 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1S0d4S-0003Ib-Fl for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:07:12 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([140.186.70.92]:54428) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1S0d4P-0003IS-Dr for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:07:10 -0500 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1S0d4L-0007Nm-2F for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:07:09 -0500 Original-Received: from rcsinet15.oracle.com ([148.87.113.117]:39613) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1S0d4K-0007NT-PR; Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:07:04 -0500 Original-Received: from acsinet22.oracle.com (acsinet22.oracle.com [141.146.126.238]) by rcsinet15.oracle.com (Sentrion-MTA-4.2.2/Sentrion-MTA-4.2.2) with ESMTP id q1NI72UX012769 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK); Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:07:02 GMT Original-Received: from acsmt356.oracle.com (acsmt356.oracle.com [141.146.40.156]) by acsinet22.oracle.com (8.14.4+Sun/8.14.4) with ESMTP id q1NI710F022062 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:07:01 GMT Original-Received: from abhmt103.oracle.com (abhmt103.oracle.com [141.146.116.55]) by acsmt356.oracle.com (8.12.11.20060308/8.12.11) with ESMTP id q1NI71Mm017096; Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:07:01 -0600 Original-Received: from dradamslap1 (/130.35.178.194) by default (Oracle Beehive Gateway v4.0) with ESMTP ; Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:07:00 -0800 X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 11 In-Reply-To: Thread-Index: AczyU1sCLqSLLldiTwusa1toFLCMdAAAYkYg X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.6157 X-Source-IP: acsinet22.oracle.com [141.146.126.238] X-CT-RefId: str=0001.0A090206.4F468047.003C,ss=1,re=0.000,fgs=0 X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 1) X-Received-From: 148.87.113.117 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:148735 Archived-At: > A critical question. What is the standard form in GNU manuals > for using the possessive apostrophe with singular nouns > ending in "s"? > > This is one of Emacs's most important features. > or > This is one of Emacs' most important features. > > Currently there are ~ 46 instances of the former in the > manuals, and 63 of the latter. I favour the former. +1 for the former case (.+s's is my preference also). (Dunno what the GNU standard is for this.) As for guidance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe#Singular_nouns_ending_with_an_.22s.22_or _.22z.22_sound http://www.grammarmudge.cityslide.com/articles/article/426348/4944.htm http://www.englishclub.com/esl-articles/possessive-apostrophe.htm