the great apostrophe debate

[darth vader]

I've put this here Quizmonster as we're delving into literacy and away from food - so when would 's's' be acceptable? is that in the case of more than one Rhodes? ....as in ' it was the male family members of Rhodes's programme'

[Squirrel]

I can't believe how confusing that is! By the way, how do you decide what to do with "Moses'" and "Thomas's" - I can hardly see any difference in these words.

[Spellmaster]

I have nothing to add to this very detailed answer, except how nice to see people treating this subject seriously for a change.

[Quizmonster]

Errm...were you speaking to me, Darth? (Only joking, Einstein!)

Well, what can I say? It all seems to have been covered and I'm certainly not about to quibble with Fowler. Moses in the possessive - like Jesus - has just the apostrophe and not the 's largely because there would be an inharmonious surfeit of 's' sounds. Hence, "Jesus' miracles" rather than "Jesus's miracles".

On that subject, given that 'Jesus' is a common name in modern Spanish, a teacher in Madrid might well tell you he has several "Jesuses" in his class. That could give rise to someone there saying: "These books aren't yours, they're the Jesuses'." There, of course, the possessive apostrophe comes after the final 's'!

[darth vader]

Top debate everyone and three stars all round. [I think] i won there then with my interpretation of "it was Gary Rhodes's programme...." as we agree he isn't of a classical background? Cheers Darth