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> Pretty much any English word can be turned into a possessive by adding
> the apostrophe-s. You can even do that with words that end in "s",
> though by convention, we usually don't.
I think this is a convention born of confusion. It's correct to leave
out the "s" for plurals ending in "s"; some people have extended the
rule a little too far and started leaving it out for everything that
ends in "s". It also departs a little too far from spoken English for
my tastes.
So you might write about "Jesus' sandals" or "Bess' coat"; but I bet you
that if you were saying it out loud it would be "Jesus's sandals" and
"Bess's coat". And when I'm reading, that missing "s" really makes me
stumble.
> It's not at all untenable if you preface the phrase with an article
> ("the Apostix solutions", "an Apostix solution"). In English, any noun
> can be used adjectivally in this way. Trust me on this... it's not
> just a Geoff thing. <g>
...in fact, I can tell technical writers who have actually worked with
Java technology from those who've only poked at it a bit from whether
their CV uses "Java" as a noun or an adjective. Sun's rabid insistence
on that one seems to leave scars for life :)
Sarah
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