# A quick homework question **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 23, 2013, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-homework-question/666926 "2013-08-23T00:41:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-homework-question/666926/21 "2013-08-23T07:00:52Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > 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. Should the possessive of Columbus be Columbus’ or Columbus’s? References you could find on-line are all over the place on this. When I learned about [The Rebellion of Shay](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shays%27s_Rebellion) in Alerican History, it was emphatically mentioned that it’s “Shays’s Rebellion”. The above-linked Wiki article calls it “Shays’ Rebellion”. Googling for it, you can find many cites both ways. So there doesn’t seem to be a widely-agreed-to rule for how to make possessive a name that already ends with s. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-homework-question/666926/22 "2013-08-23T07:09:49Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Should the possessive of Columbus be Columbus’ or Columbus’s? > > References you could find on-line are all over the place on this. When I learned about [The Rebellion of Shay](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shays%27s_Rebellion) in Alerican History, it was emphatically mentioned that it’s “Shays’s Rebellion”. The above-linked Wiki article calls it “Shays’ Rebellion”. Googling for it, you can find many cites both ways. > > So there doesn’t seem to be a widely-agreed-to rule for how to make possessive a name that already ends with s. I believe this is one of those British/American splits. American style is generally to write Columbus’ memory; British style is generally to write Columbus’s memory. Neither is inherently better than the other. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-homework-question/666926/23 "2013-08-23T07:14:09Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > 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. I still feel you’re better off comparing like to like. Either compare the perception of Columbus to the perceptions of Washington and Edison or compare Columbus to Washington and Edison. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-homework-question/666926/24 "2013-08-23T11:03:17Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > [William Strunk’s Elements of Style recommends adding the 's](http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/possessives.htm) > > . Awesome research, but you could stop at Strunk and White. I’ll be adding the final ‘s’ now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-homework-question/666926/25 "2013-08-23T13:45:49Z")
Also, Columbus wasn’t American, so what is the purpose of pointing out that the people you are comparing him to are American? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-homework-question/666926/26 "2013-08-23T13:51:45Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > 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 Was there ever a time when the plural possessive took an extra S ?? The teachers’ desks are all made of walnut. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-homework-question/666926/27 "2013-08-23T13:55:26Z")
> [@anewleaf](#): > > i’ll be adding the final ‘s’ now. 🙂 One of us! One of us! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-homework-question/666926.md?page=1)