polity and policy both come from the Latin politica, (Gr. politeia, polity, polis, city); but they must not be confounded. “Polity is the permanent system of government of a state, a church, or a society; policy is the method of management with reference to the attainment of certain ends. The national polity of the United States is republican; each administration has a policy of its own.”
pore: Compare [POUR].
possessive case, the: A very unnecessary difficulty appears to be felt, even by educated men, in the use of the apostrophe in the possessive case. It is placed immediately after the noun under consideration. If, for instance, you are talking of a lady and refer to her glove, you say “the lady’s glove”—then the apostrophe should immediately follow the noun in question; viz., lady, in the singular. If, however, there are two ladies or more, you say “the ladies’ gloves,” and the apostrophe should follow ladies; that is, lady, in the plural. In like manner, you write “the boy’s father,” or “the boys’ father,” when referring to one or to two or more boys, respectively. “The man’s hat,” “the men’s hats,” with the apostrophe following the noun man or men, will note the possessive in the singular and plural for the noun man.
The nearest approach to a difficulty is where a plural ends with an “s” or a sibilant sound; but here the rule is still the same—place the apostrophe after the noun referred to, that is, the plural, though for the sake of smoothness and euphony, omit the succeeding (or rather non-succeeding) “s.” Thus, “the boss’s desk” in the singular, “the bosses’ desks,” in the plural. When the singular ends in “s,” the possessive “s” is usually retained, excepting where the noun has three or more syllables and the word following commences with this letter. Thus, Charles’s uncle; Burns’s poems; Burns’s stanza; Damocles’ sword. The possessive “s” is also generally omitted before “sake”—as, “For conscience’ sake” (conscience having the “s” sound); “for Jesus’ sake.”
In speaking of a firm, where the partners constitute but one object of contemplation, the apostrophe is used but once—after the complete object of contemplation, that is, after the title or firm name; as, “Jones and Robinson’s store.” If Jones and Robinson, instead of being in partnership had independent businesses you would speak of “Jones’s and Robinson’s stores”—this being no exception to, but merely an exemplification of, the rule that the apostrophe immediately follows the noun or name (or firm name) under consideration.
Occasionally, the possessive appears in double form, the substantive being preceded by of and followed by the apostrophe with s. This occurs, however, only in idiomatic phrases, as, “He was a friend of my father’s,” which is equivalent to “He was one of my father’s friends” or “He was a friend of (the number of) my father’s (friends),” when it may be supposed that the person spoken of possesses more than one object of the kind referred to, this double form of possessive is properly used. “It was a fault of my friend to be loquacious” would signify the one particular weakness of my friend: “It was a fault of my friend’s to be loquacious,” that is, “of my friend’s faults,” would signify that this was one of various faults.
The apostrophe is not used with the possessive personal pronouns. Write “yours (not your’s) truly.” Compare [’S].
post: A colloquialism, generally undesirable, for inform. It is derived from the bookkeeping signification of the term, where it means that the ledger is supplied, by transfer, with the information contained in the books of original entry.
pour, pore: Exercise care in using these homophones. The first is of Celtic origin and means “to cause to flow, as a liquid, in a continuous stream”; whereas pore is from the Middle English poren, and means “to gaze or ponder with close and continued application, as in reading or studying.”