Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    A Culture of Cybersecurity
    Opportunities in the Hard Sciences
    Career Preparation
Sign In
Lingua Franca-Circular Icon

Lingua Franca

Language and writing in academe.

Apostrophes That Make You Go Hmmm

By Anne Curzan June 25, 2017
Apostrophe-Post-Cropped-2

Among the conundrums that apostrophes pose, one of the more perplexing is what to do with proper nouns that end in -

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

Apostrophe-Post-Cropped-2

Among the conundrums that apostrophes pose, one of the more perplexing is what to do with proper nouns that end in -s. Is it Chris’s mistake or Chris’ mistake? Does it matter for the spelling whether you pronounce that possessive ending on Chris with an extra syllable? Do aesthetics play any role?

Style guides do not all agree. Some favor consistent use of -’s for all nouns. Some guides espouse consistency but with exceptions: For example Strunk and White’s Elements of Style makes an exception for “the possessives of ancient proper names ending in -es and -is” (e.g., Moses, Isis) and “the possessive Jesus’.” Occasionally a guide pronounces that pronunciation matters: Add -’s if the possessive syllable is pronounced and just an apostrophe if it is not pronounced (e.g., Socrates’ cat). The fact that we may not all agree on how to pronounce something like Carlos’s/Carlos’ cat certainly complicates that recommendation.

In general, I am persuaded that consistency in creating possessives is a good principle, which would support using -’s for all singular nouns, no matter what letter they end with. So it’s Morgan’s error, Alex’s slip-up, and Chris’s mistake. But I waver occasionally. Three years ago, when I was going over the page proofs of my book Fixing English, my eye got stuck on the phrase Lynne Truss’s book. That is a lot of s’s in a row!* Some part of me balked. So I took every instance of Truss’s and changed it to Truss’, even though I pronounce the possessive with two syllables. I sent off the proofs and woke up in the morning in an apostrophe-induced panic. How could I have broken with my commitment to consistency and not left it as Truss’s? No matter that it looks a little odd with all those s’s. I immediately emailed the editor and asked him to ignore my changes and leave Truss’s as is.

ADVERTISEMENT

Where my aesthetic preferences about possessive apostrophes get even more seriously challenged is with the plural of family names that end in -s. If Jo Jones makes a decision, then it’s Jo Jones’s decision. I’m fine with that, based on the above-mentioned consistency principle. But if Jo and Jo’s entire family make a decision, then it is the Joneses’ decision, according to most style guides. If that final -eses’ makes you look twice, you’re not alone; and it doesn’t get better for me if the last name has more syllables: the Hastingses’ folly, the Onassises’ kerfuffle.

The possessive apostrophe tacked onto the end of these words is icing. My reaction of “How could something that we are told is technically correct look so wrong?” is about the plural of the family name. Bryan Garner, in Garner’s Modern English Usage, presents the rule about adding -es to family names ending in -s as exceptionless. He goes on to note: “Otherwise well-schooled people have a hard time with names that end in -s.” Count me among this group.

Here, the principle of consistency, which has convinced me to accept Truss’s book and Moses’s law, strikes me as aesthetically unfortunate. I typically take the escape hatch and write something like the Jones family’s decision or the folly of the Hastings family. I’d love to see the Hastings as a clipping of the Hastings family and let it be the plural, which would let us write the Hastings’ folly. Would people, whatever their level of schooling, miss the plural –es? Methinks perhaps not so many and not so much.

_____

* When folks criticize the “grocer’s apostrophe” in something like plural banana’s, they will sometimes say that the apostrophe should never be used to make plurals. Oh, be careful! A plural like s’s, which I have used here, is usually seen as just fine, and many style guides accept 1970’s as a plural too. The apostrophe is slippery and has been its entire life in English.

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Harvard University
'Deeply Unsettling'
Harvard’s Battle With Trump Escalates as Research Money Is Suddenly Canceled
Photo-based illustration of a hand and a magnifying glass focusing on a scene from Western Carolina Universiy
Equal Opportunity
The Trump Administration Widens Its Scrutiny of Colleges, With Help From the Internet
Santa J. Ono, president of the University of Michigan, watches a basketball game on the campus in November 2022.
'He Is a Chameleon'
At U. of Michigan, Frustrations Grew Over a President Who Couldn’t Be Pinned Down
Photo-based illustration of University of Michigan's president Jeremy Santa Ono emerging from a red shape of Florida
Leadership
A Major College-President Transition Is Defined by an About-Face on DEI

From The Review

Illustration showing a valedictorian speaker who's tassel is a vintage microphone
The Review | Opinion
A Graduation Speaker Gets Canceled
By Corey Robin
Illustration showing a stack of coins and a university building falling over
The Review | Opinion
Here’s What Congress’s Endowment-Tax Plan Might Cost Your College
By Phillip Levine
Photo-based illustration of a college building under an upside down baby crib
The Review | Opinion
Colleges Must Stop Infantilizing Everyone
By Gregory Conti

Upcoming Events

Ascendium_06-10-25_Plain.png
Views on College and Alternative Pathways
Coursera_06-17-25_Plain.png
AI and Microcredentials
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin