Quite urgent again! Surnames ending in s - apostrophes

[crosswordmarple]

Hi,

I was wondering the following...

If a surname ends in 's' (in a similar way to the name 'James') and you want to say the idea that belonged to, for example, James. Would you say James' or James's. On the internet some people say, Jameses, which surely has to be incorrect.

[murraymints]

I would say James'

[chelle7272]

I agree James'

[shoota]

I'd avoid the problem - James came up with the idea.........

[crosswordmarple]

I was inclined towards James' too. I think I will stick with my gut!

[factor-fiction]

There are differing views and the rules are not consistent/logical. Some say St Thomas', some say St Thomas's. I always go off what it sounds like. If someone is called Mr Ross I would say Mr Ross's house because that's what you say. But there is no right and wrong answer.
Why do you need to know?

[zebo]

I think the number of syllables a name has, Ross's sounds OK to me so I'd probably say it, but Chambers's sounds too clumsy, so I say Chambers'.

[magsmay]

not sure but think its got something to do with the S following a consonant or a vowel ie Its Mr Ross's car or its Mr James' car -but knowing the English language its probably got loads of exceptions.

[dr b]

See rule 2 here:

http://www.grammarboo...nctuation/apostro.asp

[FredPuli43]

Jameses is definitely wrong, unless you mean the James family: keeping up with the Jameses or Joneses.

Strictly, the rule in writing is to put 's after a surname ending in s, so it's Saint James's. In speech, it is sometimes easier to say the possessive without the extra s sound, but that is a matter of casual or informal use, not a rule.

[magsmay]

oh heck Dr. b -it must be really difficult to learn English as a foreign language!

[2sp_]

My maiden name ends with a double s. I preferred ***ss' as opposed to ***ss's.

Looks better in my opinion, but I think it's up to the person themselves how they want it to be written.

[jno]

do you mean saying or writing?

The usual advice for writing is James'. Some prefer James's, though, so I don't think you can say either is definitely right or wrong.

In speech, I say James's. To say something that sounds like Jame's idea sounds wrong to me.