Date:  Wed, 18 Oct 1995 19:35:08 -0400

From:  Frank Southworth <fsouth[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CCAT.SAS.UPENN.EDU>

Subject: Possessive 's (fwd)



>

> I am interested in getting feedback on current usage of the possessive

> 's. When I was young (I am now in my mid-60's) I was taught, and have

> always observed, the rule that in writing, the final [s] was always

> dropped from the sequence [s's] IF AND ONLY IF the first [s] was a mark

> of the plural. Thus I write [the boy's mother, the boys' mothers, Mr.

> Jones's car, the Joneses' children, keeping up with the Joneses, Harris's

> theory, the Harrises, the Harrises' living room, Dickens's Christmas

> Carol, Jesus's resurrection] etc. Sets of words like

> [Joneses-Jones's-Joneses'] and [Harris's-Harrises-Harrises'] are

> pronounced identically, viz. /jonzIz/, /haerIsIz/. I have met people

> somewhat younger than me who delete the final [s] in [s's] even when the

> first [s] is NOT a plural [s], in some or all cases. In fact I understand

> that there are teachers of English who consider spelling like [Dickens's]

> to be incorrect.

>    Now it seems that people of a younger generation also delete the

> /Iz/ in spoken forms in cases like "keeping up with the Jones" /jonz/. I

> would be glad to have more information about this. (Possibly age,

geographical origin, and other factors are relevant variables...)



> Frank Southworth (fsouth[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ccat.sas.upenn.edu)