Date: Fri, 13 May 1994 12:47:21 -0400 From: Tom McClive Subject: Re: genitive in names of businesses It would seem the genitive is merely a product of a proper name, or anything that could be treated as a proper name. For instance, this could happen: Lance Hardware -> Lance's Eagle Hardware -> Eagle's But not this: Ace Hardware -> Ace's (?) Best Hardware -> Best's (?) Even though 'Eagle' may not be a proper name, it could be used as one. 'Ace' sounds more like a description, and 'Best' is certainly a description. If the store sounds like a name, we would go with the percieved last name: JC Penney -> Penney's (not JC's) Ace Dunley -> Dunley's (not Ace's) Tom McClive tommcc[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]gibbs.oit.unc.edu