Apostrophes.When?

[Drisgirl]

Posted here because I am puzzled.

I was always led to believe that an apostrophe indicted a missing letter.Why on Soccer AM have the named their back door Jimmy Bouillard's Door.I think it should have read Jimmy Bouillards' Door.I am watching a docu on CZJ and they have called it Catherine Zeta Jonese's Private Life through it although the main title seems correct.

I am not being pedantic nor am I Word Butcher in disguise - but My daughter is called Jess and when I have say had a plaque for her door made up I have always put Jess' Room.

Am I right - specially with my daughters name?

[Drisgirl]

How I wish I had edited this - of course I know My should have been my - LOL

[Drisgirl]

O my gawd it should have been Bullard - my head is wasted tonight cos of sinusitis and thought I would take my mind of it.Bad move - but forgetting the schoolgirl errors what is the craic with apostrophes?

[shaneystar2]

Far too complicated to explain in a short post and I never paid attention at school but Wiki explains it all here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophes

Read it when your sinusitus has cleared otherwise you will end up with apostropheitis.
A better and more humourous approach to the mysteries of punctuation is the excellent book by Lynn Truss..Eat, Shoots and Leaves.

[mohill]

Hi Drisgirl! I have read what Wikipedia has to say and it seems to be a pretty good guide. The problem is that it is so difficult to give a definitive rule; there are too many exceptions and variations.

My personal guide is to say it out loud. If it sounds OK then it is probably correct and vice versa. To my ear, Jones's sounds OK so I use it. Dickens's sounds reasonably OK, but custom over the years has made Dickens' more acceptable, so that is what I use. On the other hand, Keats's is as acceptable as Keats'.

I don't know if the name you mention is Jimmy Bullard or Jimmy Bullards. If the former then use Jimmy Bullard's; if the latter then I would use Jimmy Bullards's.

For your daughter, then I would use Jess's and definitely not Jess'. On the other hand, Jesus's sounds dreadful so use Jesus'.

If the word is plural and ends with s then use s'. EG, This is a dog's collar. These are dogs' collars.

I hope this is not too confusing

Cheers

[BriWrite]

When Im not sure, I put it on a word page, if it�s wrong it tells me.

[Drisgirl]

Thanks all for your answers - I'm now confused - LOL.(sinuses are clearing tho!! - brain still fuzzy)

Now I know nothing about computers - so Bri - what is this word page?

Mo-Hill - great answer - thanks for taking the trouble:)

[Goofy]

always a puzzle that one. Have you read Eats, shoots and leaves by Lyn truss? She explains apostrophes in great detail. Certainly I think CZJ life as to be wrong - they seem to ahve added an e. Not sure about JB's door - does his surname have an S on the end?

[Drisgirl]

Goofy - no it doesnt so I thought it should have read Jimmy Bullards' Door instead of Jimmy Bullard's Door.

[heatherglen]

Jess' Room is correct. You could also use Jess's Room, that too is correct. If the name is Bouillard then it should be Bouillard's Room, if the name is Bouillards then it should be Bouillards's Room or Bouillards' Room (as a shortcut). There is a paperback edition of the Oxford Language Toolkit which gives practical advice on English Grammar and usage that I find useful for quizzes and crosswordsl. Hope this helps.

[Drisgirl]

Thank You all - well it doesnt seem to be as straight forward as I thought.Wish I had listened more in English instead of carrying on:)

I shall familiarise myself with examples you have given and the references.Word Butcher will be proud!!!

[BriWrite]

Word is part of Microsoft office, the page that you write your letters on. It has spell checking and grammar checking facilities; it highlights the errors for you. Perhaps your computer has it installed, most seem to have nowadays. Good luck.

[Drisgirl]

Cheers Bri - i'll plaque my son with all the the things I'm stuck on when he finishes his finals in his Honours in Computingy Engineering and Science when his finals have been marked (stockpiled cos of a union dispute) and we find out when his his graduation is announced - bu**er R and his pals who have slaved for for 4 yrs and to find out in the middle of their finals the tutorials have been withdrawn.Scum- but I have been critisised for that.They have innocently been caught in the crossfire.I shall personally go and kick whatever balls required to be kicked or effs (i doubt that somehow) once R is clear and anyone who knows me knows I will