THE APOSTROPHE. Henry Hitchings recent article on the apostrophe on the Huffington Post (November 1) asked whether the apostrophe has a future. He points out that there is an Apostrophe Protection Society (wikipedia article here) which is concerned about that future. Hitchings explanation for the decline of the use of apostrophes, is that graphic designers don’t like the clutter. However, Hitchings article notes that in America in 1891—when, I imagine, graphic designers power was less than it is today—the Board on Geographic Names removed most apostrophes from American maps. There are now apostrophes in only 5 American place names (one of them is Martha’s Vineyard). Hitchings explanation for the inconsistencies in the use of apostrophes is that we don’t hear apostrophes. I know that I sometimes find myself trying to pronounce the apostrophe when there is a singular possessive ending in s (as in “Hitchings’s”), and I don’t like the result.
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Correct me if I’m wrong here (ahem), but when you have a name that ends in the letter s, e.g., Hitchings, I believe the possessive is indicated by a simple use of the apostrophe, with no additional s. Hence, Hitchings’ apples, Hitchings’ ideas. And everyone just know’s what you mean!
I think that the rule I was taught that prescribed ‘s after a name ending in s is still in wide usage. I discussed this with Annalisa just now, and she remembered discussions last summer about what to call Thomas’s room at Creative Summer. Most people wound up saying “Thomas us”room. We then thought to look at the English muffin package. The English muffin people follow Mary Jane’s usage: Thomas’.
Mary Jane has it right!