By Pronunciation, Possessives

According to the Gregg Reference Manual: "To form the possessive of a singular noun that ends in an s sound, be guided by the way you pronounce the word. If a new syllable is formed in the pronunciation of the possessive, add an apostrophe plus s." Ex: your boss's approval (you...

My daughter and I were just discussing this topic and I found this forum quite helpful. Her name is Eilis (pronounced eye-lish.) Since her name is not historical, I believe the possessive is Eilis's. The pronunciation of the possessive would be "eye-lish-iz" which seems to, again, point to a...

In the three example sentences, I don't like the second one. I wouldn't've contracted lunch's. I'm not sure why...maybe the possessive changes my feeling, as does the difficulty of the 'chs' pronunciation. I also wouldn't contract 'Breakfast' or 'brunch', but I would contract "Your dinner's...

Anonymous wrote: what's the rule in english grammar for forming the possessive of a singular noun that ends in s? When I was in high school, I was taught to add only an apostrophe and not an "s". Only later did I discover that both forms are possible. Read: " To make the possessive form of...

I would argue that Chris´s is the only option. When one pronounces Chris´s, there are two syllables. Usually all singular possessives require ´s. Pronunciation usually determines those very few exceptions. For example, Dr. Seuss's where Suess´s is pronounced with two syllables is correct. ...

There are three possible pronunciations of the plural ending. (The third person present tense verb forms and the possessive forms follow the same pattern.) 1. /iz/ after a sibilant. This ending creates an extra syllable. The endings for Groups 2 and 3 (below) do not create an extra...

You're in the right place! It's not a regional thing. The pronunciation of the pluralizing "s" is standard throughout the English-speaking world. The sound of the "s", as you point out, can be a true "s" sound or a "z" sound. And the only thing you need to know is which sound...

William is also a family name. And the book said 1-Mr. Williams' house 2-Mr. Adams' freinds 3-Mr. Hopkins' reply but then 1-Mr. James's help 2-Mr. Jones's mistake 3-Mr. Thomas's diary It says that for one syllable name, if adding 's' to its end doesn't make pronunciation more difficult,...

According to Swan (Practical English Usage): 'The apostrophe in a word like parents' does not change the pronunciation at all , But with singular classical (ancient Greek and Roman) names ending in s', we sometimes pronounce a possessive 's even when it is not written: Oedipus' = /i:dip?s(iz)/.

The toughest for me is the pronunciation of some sounds that are not found in any of the other languages I know (Mandarin and Malay). The ones that gives me the most problem are the two "th" sounds. Another area is logic. I have no problem in subject-verb agreement, but the choice of...