Special cases - Spelling - Part III. Style 20 spelling

A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, 7th edition - Kate L. Turabian 2007

Special cases
Spelling
Part III. Style 20 spelling

SINGULAR NOUNS ENDING IN S. Form the possessive of the following types of nouns with only an apostrophe:

nouns that name a group or collective entity but are treated as grammatically singular

politics' true meaning

the United States' role

names that end in an unpronounced s

Descartes' Discourse on Method

Albert Camus' novels

names of more than one syllable with an unaccented ending pronounced eez, including many Greek and hellenized names

Aristophanes' plays

the Ganges' source

Charles Yerkes' ideas

nouns in For . . . sake expressions that end in an s or an s sound

for conscience' sake

for appearance' sake

You might instead rephrase a sentence that contains one of these exceptions. (For use of the abbreviation U.S. in this situation, see 24.3.1.)

the role of the United States

instead of

the United States' role

for the sake of appearance

instead of

for appearance' sake

COMPOUND WORDS. Form the possessives of singular compound words by adding an apostrophe and s to the last word, even if the main noun is first.

his sister-in-law's business

the attorney general's decision

Avoid using the possessive for plural compounds in which the noun is followed by a prepositional phrase or adjective; rephrase instead.

decisions of the attorneys general

not

attorneys' general decisions

MULTIPLE NOUNS. If a possessive indicates that two or more entities each possess something separately, make all the nouns possessive.

New York's and Chicago's teams

historians' and economists' methods

If a possessive indicates that two or more entities possess something jointly, make only the last noun possessive.

Minneapolis and St. Paul's teams

historians and economists' data

TERMS IN ITALICS AND QUOTATION MARKS. If a term in italics is possessive, both the apostrophe and the s should be in roman type. Do not add a possessive to a term in quotation marks; rephrase the sentence.

the Atlantic Monthly's editor

admirers of “Ode on a Grecian Urn”