I’m in the process of writing a revisionist essay on the storied explorer Christopher Columbus. Could somebody clarify if this sentence is clear and gramatically correct?
“Columbus’ popular memory resides in the same upper echelon as Alerican heroes such as George Washington and Thomas Edison; perfect men who only commited acts if goodness.”
Kerp in mind that I am arguing the fact the Columbus was a not so guy, and that this is merely part of my introduction.
I don’t think it’s grammatically incorrect, but it might read better as two sentences.
I think it should be “acts of goodness.”
I don’t think it’s clear, and it’s definitely not grammatically correct.
“Columbus’ popular memory resides in the same upper echelon as Alerican heroes such as George Washington and Thomas Edison; perfect men who only commited acts if goodness.”
Grammatically,
Stylistically, I think your thesis should just focus on Columbus being over-idealized. It’s distracting to invoke other folk heroes, especially as a thesis because that would suggest that the essay is going to be about all three men rather than just Columbus.
No. Columbus’ is correct.
And I didn’t think we were counting typos.
And “acts of goodness”, not “acts if goodness”.
And I suspect that the OP intended Washington and Edison as other examples of heroes with overinflated reputations, not as actual perfect men.
It should be a colon rather than a semi-colon.
The part after the semi-colon is not an independent clause.
I apologize for the spelling and typos, that’s my quick typing. I replaced memory with legacy and goodness with righteousness.
I should have mentioned that I am only in 11th grade. The average student my age still sees Edison as a kind man. Although I do agree it may distract from my intended claim.
Thank you all for your help.
A semicolon should only* be used if the pieces on each side are complete sentences in their own right - we call those “independent clauses”. So let’s check that first:
Columbus’ popular memory resides in the same upper echelon as [American] heroes such as George Washington and Thomas Edison <—can I put a period here and have a complete sentence? Yes, I can. “memory” is the subject and “resides in the same upper echelon” is the predicate. So far, so good.
perfect men who only [committed] acts [of] goodness<—can I put a period here and have a complete sentence? Nope. We’ve got a subject, “men” but there’s no predicate. These men who committed acts of goodness haven’t done or had anything done to them in this phrase. It’s a decent descriptive phrase, but it’s not a complete sentence, and so it’s not grammatically correct to use a semicolon in front of it.
So no, it’s not grammatically correct as you’ve written it. See if you can break it into two or more sentences, or rewrite it so that what’s on each side of the semicolon *could *be its own sentence.
*except when it isn’t, like when making a list of lists, but this isn’t one of those exceptions. 
I can’t quote from my mobile, but thank you both for the help with the semi-colon!
You’re very welcome.
For what it’s worth, it’s something that adult writers often have trouble with too; semicolons are tricky bastards.
(See how that works? 
)
I didn’t know that about semi-colons. So thanks for the answers, and thanks to **Connor **for asking.
Agree to disagree. I learned via Elements of Style that it’s 's on everything except for “ancient” names like Jesus or Achilles. How ancient, is a matter of debate. It certainly applies to Dr. Seuss’s examples.
No. “Columbus’s” is correct.
sob Can’t we all just get along?! 
Both are correct. Neither are correct. It depends entirely on which system your teacher wants you to use, and/or what s/he was taught in third grade.
William Strunk’s Elements of Style recommends adding the 's
APA says 's, except that you should “use an apostrophe only with the singular form of names ending in unpronounced s (see p. 97 in the Publication Manual). Therefore, if you were writing a paper about the philosopher Descartes, to form the possessive with his name, you would need to just add an apostrophe (e.g., Descartes’ theory).”
The Chicago Manual of Style recommends that most possessives of proper names include an extra “s.” except for “Jesus, Moses, and names of more than one syllable with an unaccented ending pronouned “eez.”” which would include Columbus in some dialects, but they also say that “Either is correct, though we prefer the ['s]. Please consult 7.15–18 for a full discussion of the rules for forming the possessive of proper nouns. For a discussion of the alternative practice of simply adding an apostrophe to form the possessive of proper nouns ending in s, see paragraph 7.21.”
Associated Press Stylebook says “For singular proper names ending in s, use only an apostrophe: Brandeis’ mission • For singular proper names ending in s sounds such as x, ce, and z, use 's: Marx’s theories”
So we’re two fer and two agin’. The only real correct answer is to ask your teacher what s/he wants.
Sequential Thread goodness - this thread is currently 2-down from here 
I thought that “double S” was falling out of favour?
I certainly used double S when growing up - and when reading Enid Blyton it is all over the place …but now when I write anything I only use single S when denoting ownership of the plural
It’s awkward. First there’s the possible confusion between the two meanings of Columbus’ memory. Are you talking about how people remember Columbus or how Columbus himself remembers things? Obviously from the context of the rest of the sentence it’s the former but people reading the beginning of your sentence don’t yet know where you’re going so they’re going to start out confused. And it’s a long sentence with a lot of elements so you should try to avoid confusion.
Second is the way you compare the memory of Columbus with Washington and Edison. It gives the impression you’re creating a distinction which I don’t think you intend.
Third is the repetition of as and such as. You’re better off avoiding it.
My recommendation? Rewrite the sentence as follows: “In popular memory, Columbus resides in the same upper echelon as American heroes like George Washington and Thomas Edison; perfect men who only committed acts of goodness.”
As a bonus, you get to avoid the issue of which possessive of Columbus is better.
Still an illegal use of a semicolon, though.
The popular perception of Columbus resides in the same upper echelon as American heroes like George Washington and Thomas Edison: a perfect man who only committed acts of goodness.
Is how I’d write it, although, I still wouldn’t say upper echelon.