My Grammar and I (Or Should That Be 'Me'?): Old-School Ways to Sharpen Your English

boss
The animal s’ feed is insufficient to last the
winter.
The feed of the
animals
Another rule: In the singular the apostrophe is always on the left of its s ; in the
plural it is usually on the right.
The school ’s rules (one school)

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The school s’ rules (two or more schools)
The princess ’s slippers (one princess)
The princesse s’ slippers (more than one princess)
What the dickens do I do with that apostrophe?
There are – of course – exceptions to the apostrophe rules. These are they.
1.   When the plural doesn’t end in s , add an apostrophe followed by an s :
The men’s car
The children’s party
The mice’s lack of eyesight
2.   Names ending in an s should be followed by ’s if singular and - es’ if plural:
Charles’s last name was Dickens.
Charles Dickens’s novels are well loved.
The Joneses’ standards weren’t worth keeping up with.
Our old friend euphony (see
here
) also crops up here: the moment the word
becomes a mouthful, you stop adding an s. So:
St Agnes’s Church
Jesus’s sandals
but Barabbas ’ criminal record
3.   If the last syllable is pronounced -iz or -eeze, stick to s’ , don’t add the extra s
Sophocles’ plays – although, with longer words, it’s often easier to paraphrase:
The  inventions  of  Archimedes  rather  than  Archimedes’  (or  Archimedes’s  )
inventions.
The odyssey of Odysseus rather than Odysseus’ (or Odysseus’s ) odyssey .
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It also sounds better – and makes you less likely to spit at the person you are
speaking to .
4.    Then  there  are  organizations  that  have  simply  decided  that  they  are  above
having to employ correct grammar:
Citizens Advice Bureau , Harrods and Selfridges , for instance. There appears
to be no logic to this, but presumably an organization has the right to choose
how to spell its own name. That said, ten out of ten for Macy’s , McDonald’s ,
and Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital .

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