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Character with name ending in s and apostrophes?
So, I'm having a debate with a friend over our book character's name and uses of apostrophes. I've looked up/know the rules of apostrophe useage (which is no help because they all disagree anyway) and she eventually challenged me to find a published book with a character in it whose name is one syllable (Chris, James, etc.), ends in s, and has only an apostrophe (no " 's "). Can anyone think of a book fitting this?
4 Answers
- lissLv 41 decade agoFavorite Answer
lol, that was a question on my editor loop. Which is the proper style? You haven't lived until fifty people argue for days over proper grammar.
The answer was--it's up to House style. But consistent within the House.
Say, if Random house decides they're going to use 's and not the whole name with an ', then that's valid for their house. Other Houses may vary. Each is proper useage for somewhere.
- LKLv 71 decade ago
I looked in my paperback copy of "The Traveler" by John Twelve Hawks, because there is a character in it with the last name of 'Hollis' and I knew somewhere I'd have to find a reference to this character that called for an apostrophe.
Finally, on pg. 452 (don't worry, I began to go from the end after a while) I found this: "Hollis's jacket was ripped open." It's just under the middle of the page.
This book was published in July 2006 by First Vintage Books Mass Market Edition... after the hardcover was published in 2005 by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
[Vintage is also a division of Random House Inc. NY]
So there you have it. One book, more already there or to come...
Source(s): EDIT ADD: Very interesting that the post above mine should mention Random House, isn't it? Okay. Somewhat interesting. - HP WombatLv 71 decade ago
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 18, Lupin says
"They sneaked out of the castle every month under James's Invisibility Cloak."
That is one reference for the opposite argument, though, haha.
- F.J.Lv 61 decade ago
I used to get red marks all over my paper in English 102 for using 's... as in James's... my teacher said it was wrong, and it was the first time any English teacher told me that... either the school system failed or my 102 teacher was a stubborn old man set in his ways. He also didn't allow us to say the 's sound at the end.. we couldn't say James's book, we had to say James book... pretty stupid, huh?
