Re: Grammar Question

[Sella Rush <SellaR -at- APPTECHSYS -dot- COM>]

Are you ready for this?  Based on the Chicago Manual (see 6.19 to 6.30)

For general words:

"I would like the class's opinion" (a single class)
but
"I would like the classes' opinion" (more than one class)

For proper nouns:

I have to quote this section!
"How to form the possessive of polysyllabic personal names ending with
the sound of s or z probably occasions more dissension among writers and
editors than any other orthographic matter open to disagreement."  What
do ya know, a controversy we haven't debated on this list yet!

Chicago prefers using 's regardless of whether the name ends in s or z
sounds
EXCEPT
 Jesus'  and Moses'
and
any polysyllabic word with an unaccented ending pronounced eez, such as
Euripides' or Ramses'

but the manual also notes that many editors go with using apostrophe
only if a proper name ends in s or z.  (It also notes that some use a
rule depending on whether is sounds like s or z, but lets not go into
*that*.)

So basically, Chicago recognizes both your choices, but prefers

> Russ's books were stolen
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sella Rush
mailto:sellar -at- apptechsys -dot- com
Applied Technical Systems, Inc. (ATS)
Bremerton, Washington USA
Developers of the CCM Database

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