CHAPTER IV
Possessive Case
Some time ago a shoe merchant called upon the writer to know how to arrange the points in the wording of a new sign that he was preparing to place over his door. He made a specialty of shoes for men and boys. He presented a paper containing the lines:
Men’s and Boy’s Shoes.
Mens’ and Boys’ Shoes.
He was politely informed that both were incorrect; that the two words form their plurals differently, and that the possessive case is, therefore, formed in a different manner. The plural of man is men,; the plural of boy is boys. The possessive of man is man’s; of men is men’s. The possessive of boy is boy’s; of boys is boys’. In the latter case we are obliged to place the apostrophe after the s in order to distinguish the possessive plural from the possessive singular. All nouns that form their plurals by adding s to the singular, form their possessive case as the word boy does. The sign should therefore read:
Men’s and Boys’ Shoes.
All nouns in the singular form their possessive case by adding the apostrophe and the letter s; as, child’s, girl’s, woman’s, bird’s, brother’s, sister’s, judge’s, sailor’s.
When the noun ends in s, sh, ch, ce, se, or x, the additional s makes another syllable in pronouncing the word; as, James’s, Charles’s, witness’s, duchess’s, countess’s, Rush’s, March’s, prince’s, horse’s, fox’s. In poetry the terminal s is sometimes omitted for the sake of the meter.
While writers differ, the tendency in modern usage is toward the additional s in such expressions as Mrs. Hemans’s Poems, Junius’s Letters, Knowles’s “Virginius,” Knox’s Sermons, Brooks’s Arithmetics, Rogers’s Essays.
By long-established usage such expressions as for conscience’ sake, for righteousness’ sake, for qoodness’ sake, for Jesus’ sake, have become idioms. Some authorities justify the omission of the possessive s when the next word begins with s, as in Archimedes’ screw, Achilles’ sword.