Oh wise friends list, help please

[alwayseven]

I have a grammar question, and I'm a little embarrassed that I have to ask. Clearly I should have majored in English instead of French.

What is the correct spelling of the possessive when the name of the person ends with s:
James'
James's

I HAVE NO IDEA and it's driving me nuts. Thank you in advance.

Comments

[carma_baby]

As odd as it looks, the correct way of writing it is James's. At least as far as I know. Of course, spell check disagrees, but that is between you and it...

Good luck!!!

[alwayseven]

Thank you! That's the problem, spell check doesn't like it. But spell check and I often disagree.

[indigo_5]

Either one is correct!

[indigo_5]

Or, to be more exact:
The AP style (used by most journalists) says to use an apostrophe without an extra "s" after it.
Chicago style (used by most book editors) says to use an apostrophe followed by an "s" with certain exceptions (Jesus, Moses, and names of more than one syllable with an unaccented ending pronouned "eez")
Here's a good resource: http://www.grammaruntied.com/case/possnouns.html

God, am I a nerd or what. *facepalm*

[alwayseven]

No, you're awesome! Thank you so much for the information and the explanation, I was sure there had to be reasons/exceptions. Thank you for the link, too.

Neither of them look right to me. Maybe I'll just change his name to Jame to make things easier on me.

[indigo_5]

I hear that. Personally, I prefer the extra "s" because I feel like it's logically consistent; if it's Ann's book, it should be James's chair. It's not like you're referring to multiple Jameses. But that may only make sense in my own head.

[untiltimeends]

Honestly, I'm pretty sure it's just whatever sounds correct when you say it out loud. That's what all my teachers in college have told me thus far.

[alwayseven]

Okay! I can do that. Because neither of them look right on my screen.

[azewewish]

It depends on if you're using the AP or Chicago Style Manual. Personally, the extra "s" drives me insane, so I just use the apostrophe, but either one is technically correct, as long as you're consistent.

[alwayseven]

Thank you Brenda, I knew you'd have the answer as well as an explanation. :)

[azewewish]

It's a discussion that still crops up in fandom, too - most recently in Inception, because of Eames. And I remember a lot of talk about which was correct in the heyday of CW RPS with Chris' name.

[goten0040]

I usually write James'.

[alwayseven]

Excellent, thank you :)