Britney Spears

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Grammar Geek

#458311 Sat, 29 Dec 07 11:31 PM

In one of the weirder sections of the AP Stylebook, it talks about using that 's at the end of words that end in S (not the classical names of Moses, Hercules, etc.) except when the word that followed started with an S as well. So Britney Spears's brother but Spears' sister. Frankly, that one ends up making half your stuff look like you've made a typo.

As with most matters of style, the rule of consistency beats any other rules (except clarity) and when something has exceptions like that, it just ends up looking like a jumble.

And what about their mother? The Spearses' mother? These plural-possessive-ending-in-S nouns seem to have half a dozen "correct" ways of writing them.

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (15,288)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Plurals, Possessives, Nouns

Clive

#458312 Sat, 29 Dec 07 11:33 PM

Hi guys,

What do you expect, she's Britney Spears sister.

Apart from the 'genitive' consideration, I'd expect this to be written as What do you expect? She's . . .'

As a wild generalization, I wouldn't necessarily expect people who are interested in Britney's sister's pregnancy to be greatly concerned about correct English grammar.

Best wishes, Clive

Clive

Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004

Canada

Veteran Member (20,451)

El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo

Grammar, English grammar, Genitives

Grammar Geek

#458314 Sat, 29 Dec 07 11:36 PM

Clive wrote:

As a wild generalization, I wouldn't necessarily expect people who are interested in Britney's sister's pregnancy to be greatly concerned about correct English grammar.

I would agree... except that because she is "Zoey" on Zoey 101 and therefore someone my children watch, I'm using this situation as a bit of a morality lesson. Tongue Tied [:S]

Grammar Geek

Grammar, English grammar

Clive

#458320 Sat, 29 Dec 07 11:50 PM

Hi Barb,

A morality lesson on what happens if you don't take care about correct grammar?

In addition, I heard the mother-to-be has a $1 million offer from a magazine for pictures of the newborn. Good luck on working that into your lesson. Crying [:'(]

Clive

Grammar

Grammar Geek

#458328 Sun, 30 Dec 07 12:29 AM

Ah yes. We've talked about how she and her 19 year old boyfriendn will be "raising their baby" in Louisana - translation: she will hire a nanny to raise her child. It's actually been a good discussion starter about the consequences of your choices on yourself AND on others.

Grammar Geek

Translation

Cool Breeze

#458421 Sun, 30 Dec 07 09:09 AM

Grammar Geek wrote:
And what about their mother? The Spearses' mother? These plural-possessive-ending-in-S nouns seem to have half a dozen "correct" ways of writing them.

Hi GG

This intrigues me. Could you please tell me what other suggestions style guides have offered as correct plurals and plural genitives. I have never encountered anything except the Spearses' mother. At least it is logical and in accordance with the grammatical rules of English.

1. If a noun ends in an s or an s sound, es is added in the plural: one boss, two bosses.
2. If a plural noun ends in an s, only an apostrophe is added in the genitive: two bosses' wives. (Many may prefer to say "the wives of two bosses")

Proper nouns behave in the same way: one Spears, two Spearses. Hence: the Spearses' mother.

Cheers
CB

Cool Breeze

Joined on Fri, Apr 7 2006

Helsinki, Finland

Senior Member (2,692)

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Grammar, Plurals, Possessives, Nouns, Apostrophes, Genitives

Grammar Geek

#458562 Sun, 30 Dec 07 05:04 PM

Hi CB,

I would write "the Spearses' mother" without hesitation to show plural possessive.

I don't have the AP book with me (it's Sunday and it's on my shelf at work) but I think for plurals, it would agree on that one.

Bu I'm also pretty sure I've seen people do "The Spears' " as a way to do plural possessive because they somehow think that proper nouns don't take plurals and just like one moose, two moose, it's one Spears, two Spears. I would actually consider that "incorrect" but I'm a dinosaur.

Grammar Geek

Plurals, Possessives, Nouns

Cool Breeze

#458581 Sun, 30 Dec 07 05:57 PM

Thanks for your comment, GG. I find English tremendously fascinating just because of all these exceptions, irregularities and oddities. And because there are so few inflections and verb forms, even educated people sometimes disagree on correct usage in cases that seem very clear to me. (The subjunctive is a good example.) Then I read their posts and realize that if I look at the matter from a British or American standpoint, maybe my choice isn't the only one I should think right. Smile [:)]

Cool Breeze

Verbs, Subjunctives, Inflections

Kooyeen

#458616 Sun, 30 Dec 07 09:06 PM

Wow, so many answers... thanks! You guys must like Britney Spears so much! LOL Wink [;)]

Actually, I dindn't even know she had a sister, let alone know she was pregnant. The truth is that I found that on Youtube, in a comment. It was under a video that made fun of Britney's sister, so funny, lol. I sometimes browse through Youtube to listen/watch random stuff.

Anyway, I understand I can write either Spears' or Spears's. But... what about the pronunciation? I heard it without the additional "iz" sound. Do you mean "iz" can also be added if you feel like it?

And how am I supposed to know when the "iz" sound can be left out? I thought you added it anyway, if a noun ended in S, Z, or X... or G... If I can leave it out, does it mean I can say "This is Chris' house", without saying "Chrisiz" but just "Chris"? I don't think so. So what's wrong with Britney Spears? Not with her... with the noun, grammatically speaking, I mean, LOL Wink [;)]

Thanks

Kooyeen

Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005

Italy

Senior Member (3,832)

If you don't have a sense of humor already, it's about time you buy one.

Nouns, Pronunciation

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