Grammar question..English Teacher? Or anyone who knows?

[DMRick]

Here's my question:

For those of you better at grammar than I :

Is it Lois's book, or Lois' book?

I was told (and it's prob right, but I still want a second opinion).

Possessive of Lois is Lois's, sometimes written Lois'. ... Both of these are grammatically correct.

Thanks!

 

[laurie31]

I was also under the impression that both are correct. (I'm not an English teacher but my Dad was - for 40 years!)

Laurie

 

[catherine]

According to my DH who was a technical writer for a number of years Lois's book is the correct punctuation. The apostrophe without the final 's' is used in cases of plural possessives, e.g. the cats' dinners (when talking about the dinners of more than one cat), while the final 's' is still used in cases of singular words that end with 's' (such as the Beatles song Octopus's Garden).

 

[barbeml]

According to my DH who was a technical writer for a number of years Lois's book is the correct punctuation. The apostrophe without the final 's' is used in cases of plural possessives, e.g. the cats' dinners (when talking about the dinners of more than one cat), while the final 's' is still used in cases of singular words that end with 's' (such as the Beatles song Octopus's Garden).

Correct. I worked as an editor for a couple of years, and I also freelanced for a newspaper many years ago. I was told that leaving out the 's for names ending in s is a space-saving measure employed by the press.

 

[golfgal]

The first would be one Lois the second would be two or more Loises or would that be Loii?

 

[DMRick]

Thanks for the replies. I guess it's good either way..but then what if there were two Loises LOL?

 

[SpecialK]

It's not good either way. Long time English teacher here. All singular words become posessive by adding apostrophe s (Lois's) regardless of the letter with which they end. Only plural possessive words that end in s should end with an apostrophe.

 

[LadyBears]

My last name ends in "s". I have wanted to get stuff personalized (such as door plaques & even my mailbox), but wasn't sure how. So that means it would be "The Xxxxxxxxs's"? How about signing a letter - that would be s's also?

I never had to worry about this with my maiden name!

TIA for the help.

 

[DMRick]

A person with an English degree passed this on to me
(thanks Melanie, if you are reading this)

The correct usage in this case is Lois's. You use apostrophe s if the noun
showing possession is singular, even if it ends in an s. You only use the s' if
it is plural, so you'd only write Lois' if you are talking about more than one
Lois.

Here's some more detail about the various rules for using apostrophes with
regards to possession. Hope they help!

Melanie

Forming possessives of nouns
To see if you need to make a possessive, turn the phrase around and make it an
"of the..." phrase. For example:
the boy's hat = the hat of the boy
three days' journey = journey of three days
If the noun after "of" is a building, an object, or a piece of furniture, then
no apostrophe is needed!
room of the hotel = hotel room
door of the car = car door
leg of the table = table leg
Once you've determined whether you need to make a possessive, follow these rules
to create one.
• add 's to the singular form of the word (even if it ends in -s):
the owner's car
James's hat
• add 's to the plural forms that do not end in -s:
the children's game
the geese's honking
• add ' to the end of plural nouns that end in -s:
houses' roofs
three friends' letters
• add 's to the end of compound words:
my brother-in-law's money
• add 's to the last noun to show joint possession of an object:
Todd and Anne's apartment

 

[WIcruizer]

Thanks for the replies. I guess it's good either way..

LOL...It's humorous that several people said (rightfully so) that Lois's is correct, yet the OP somehow concluded from the responses both are ok. Sort of like how I am at home...I hear what I want to hear!

 

[swilphil]

My last name ends in "s". I have wanted to get stuff personalized (such as door plaques & even my mailbox), but wasn't sure how. So that means it would be "The Xxxxxxxxs's"? How about signing a letter - that would be s's also?

I never had to worry about this with my maiden name!

TIA for the help.

In this case you wouldn't necessarily need an apostrophe at all. You would just say "The Xxxxxxxxxses" if the last name ended in an S. If you were saying "The Xxxxxxxxs's House," then you would use the apostrophe S.

 

[soccerchick]

Just making a noun plural doesn't use an apostrophe (except in a few, rule breaking cases, but it seems those rules are changing too).

Ex. Williams = one person w/last name Williams (Mr. Williams lives at that house)
Williamses = many people w/last name Williams (The Williamses live at that house)

Possessive (singular) = Mr. Williams's house
Possessive (plural) = The Williamses' house

If you are addressing or signing Christmas cards, it's just plural.

But here's a new one for you...

I was reading The Washington Post yesterday and it was reporting that Jenna and Barbara Bush were celebrating their birthday. They had both girls possessing one birthday together. Would that be right since they are twins? Wouldn't they each still have A birthday? It looked so weird.

 

[Mariposa]

Hmm.. I had to think about the birthday thing, but here's my take... When you celebrate your birthday you are literally celebrating the day of your birth, since they share one I'd assume that saying they are celebrating their birthday (singular) would be correct (as it is the same day for both).

 

[DMRick]

Well exccccuuuuse me, I was commenting on what one person said was wrong, another person believed it could be either and Barb's mention that newspapers leave off the 's for space saving, not what "several" people said. So I assumed (so kill me LOL) that it would be alright either way, if newspapers do it, and an English teachers daughter thought it was OK. I wasn't hearing just what I wanted to hear. I was reading what was being written. Geesh!
I've since posted examples, etc of useage, and it's all making sense to me now.

For those (wiz) keeping track, the answers from before I posted that either may be all right:

Laurie: thought either way OK
Catherine: :Lois's correct
Barb: Lois's correct, however newspapers did Lois' to save space.

So that's why I said it sounds like either is fine. Once I got Melanie's note, it was very clear to me which was correct. Thanks to other's of you who sent me examples...even those if you who weren't sure

LOL...It's humorous that several people said (rightfully so) that Lois's is correct, yet the OP somehow concluded from the responses both are ok. Sort of like how I am at home...I hear what I want to hear!

 

[TammyJ]

Thanks to other's of you who sent me examples...even those if you who weren't sure

ummm...I think it's "others"

 

[LadyBears]

Just making a noun plural doesn't use an apostrophe (except in a few, rule breaking cases, but it seems those rules are changing too).

Ex. Williams = one person w/last name Williams (Mr. Williams lives at that house)
Williamses = many people w/last name Williams (The Williamses live at that house)

Possessive (singular) = Mr. Williams's house
Possessive (plural) = The Williamses' house

If you are addressing or signing Christmas cards, it's just plural.

Thanks for clarifying!!!

 

[DMRick]

ummm...I think it's "others"

Tough crowd LOL