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Post by deecee on Dec 1, 2009 21:51:34 GMT
I don't know who taught me wrong, but all my life I've been writing the possessive of words like fox with just an apostrophe.... eg. the fox' teeth
Is it really supposed to be fox's teeth??? Where did I pick up this misinformation??
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Post by Dave on Dec 2, 2009 2:34:57 GMT
Welcome, deecee! This is from The Associated Stylebook and Libel Manual (1995): apostrophe (') ... POSSESSIVES: ... ... SINGULAR NOUNS NOT ENDING IN S: Add 's: the church's needs, the girl's toys, the horse's food, the ship's route, the VIP's seat.
Some style guides say that singular nouns ending in s sounds such as ce, x, and z may take either the apostrophe alone or 's. See SPECIAL EXPRESSIONS, but otherwise, for consistency and ease in remembering a rule, always use 's if the word does not end in the letter s: Butz's policies, the fox's den, the justice's verdict, Marx's theories, the prince's life, Xerox's profits. ... SPECIAL EXPRESSIONS: The following exceptions to the general rule for words not ending in s apply to words that end in an s sound and are followed by a word that begins with s: for appearance' sake, for conscience' sake, for goodness' sake. Use 's otherwise: the appearance's cost, my conscience's voice. ... I trust that helps!
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