Whatever the vice president has Kamala Harris to elect governor of Minnesota Team Walz as he walks mate, it is probably not the desire to inflame arguments about the apostrophe. But it doesn’t take much to get grammar nerds fired up. “The lower the stakes, the bigger the fight,” said Ron Woloshun, a creative director and digital marketer in California who jumped on social media less than an hour later. Harris chose Walz last week to offer take on possessive nouns.
The Associated Press Stylebook says “only use an quotation marks“For the last single name in the novel S: Dickens, the work of Hercules, the life of Jesus. But not everyone agrees.
The debate over possessive names ending in S began after Prez Joe Biden cleared the way for Harris to run last month. Is it Harris or Harris? But the choice of Walz with a sound-like-an-s surname really ramped up, said Benjamin Dreyer, retired chief copy at Random House and author of “Dreyer English: Utterly True Guide to Clarity and Style”. Dreyer was inundated with questions within minutes of the announcement, which came while he was at the dentist. “I was like, ‘Okay, everybody just need to chill.'”
While there is widespread agreement that Walz is right, confusion remains about Harris vs. Harris. Dreyer’s verdict? Add ‘s. “To set ‘s is just simple, then you can take valuable brain cells and apply to something more important,” he said.
Woloshun expressed a similar opinion about X, where apostrophes were thrown like hand grenades. “The rules are simple: If you say S, spell S,” he said. That puts them on par with the New York Times, Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal — and no match for the AP.
While the AP style has evolved in many ways over the years, there are no immediate plans to change the guidance on possessives, said Amanda Barrett, AP vice president for news standards and inclusion. “This is a longstanding policy for AP. It has become ours too, and we have not seen the real need to change,” she said. “We understand that the conversation is out there and that people are making different choices, and that’s okay.”
Merriam-Webster, America’s oldest dictionary publisher, splits the difference: For names ending in an S or Z sound, you can add ‘s or just an apostrophe, although the dictionary says ‘s is the more common choice. Timothy Pulju, a senior lecturer in linguistics at Dartmouth College, says that until the 17th or 18th century, names with names ending in the letter S – such as Jesus or Moses – were often just the name without an apostrophe or an additional S. , the apostrophe was added (Jesus or Musa) to show ownership, although the pronunciation remains the same.
“That became the standard that was taught and I followed it, although in retrospect I don’t think it was a good standard,” he said. That’s because linguists think of writing as a representation of speech, and speech has changed since then. Pulju said he expects his form to be dominant eventually. But now, he – agreeing with Merriam-Webster – says that either way is acceptable. “As long as people can communicate successfully,” he said. “He won’t be confused about who Tim Walz’s mate is.”
If he wins in November, Harris will become the fourth US prez with the last name S and the first since Rutherford B Hayes, who was elected in 1876 – 130 years before the founding of Twitter – and was not influenced by social media. apostrophe. Harris is the first nominee with a tough last name since 1988, when Democrat Michael Dukakis lost to George HW Bush. Dukakis, now 90, said in a phone interview Monday that he doesn’t remember having similar discussions when he was nominated. But he agrees with AP. “It sounds to me like it will be s, apostrophe, and it,” he said.
The Harris campaign, meanwhile, has yet to take a clear stance. A press release on Friday by the New Hampshire team called it “Harris’ positive vision”, the day after the national press office wrote about “Harris’ seventh trip to Nevada.”
The Associated Press Stylebook says “only use an quotation marks“For the last single name in the novel S: Dickens, the work of Hercules, the life of Jesus. But not everyone agrees.
The debate over possessive names ending in S began after Prez Joe Biden cleared the way for Harris to run last month. Is it Harris or Harris? But the choice of Walz with a sound-like-an-s surname really ramped up, said Benjamin Dreyer, retired chief copy at Random House and author of “Dreyer English: Utterly True Guide to Clarity and Style”. Dreyer was inundated with questions within minutes of the announcement, which came while he was at the dentist. “I was like, ‘Okay, everybody just need to chill.'”
While there is widespread agreement that Walz is right, confusion remains about Harris vs. Harris. Dreyer’s verdict? Add ‘s. “To set ‘s is just simple, then you can take valuable brain cells and apply to something more important,” he said.
Woloshun expressed a similar opinion about X, where apostrophes were thrown like hand grenades. “The rules are simple: If you say S, spell S,” he said. That puts them on par with the New York Times, Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal — and no match for the AP.
While the AP style has evolved in many ways over the years, there are no immediate plans to change the guidance on possessives, said Amanda Barrett, AP vice president for news standards and inclusion. “This is a longstanding policy for AP. It has become ours too, and we have not seen the real need to change,” she said. “We understand that the conversation is out there and that people are making different choices, and that’s okay.”
Merriam-Webster, America’s oldest dictionary publisher, splits the difference: For names ending in an S or Z sound, you can add ‘s or just an apostrophe, although the dictionary says ‘s is the more common choice. Timothy Pulju, a senior lecturer in linguistics at Dartmouth College, says that until the 17th or 18th century, names with names ending in the letter S – such as Jesus or Moses – were often just the name without an apostrophe or an additional S. , the apostrophe was added (Jesus or Musa) to show ownership, although the pronunciation remains the same.
“That became the standard that was taught and I followed it, although in retrospect I don’t think it was a good standard,” he said. That’s because linguists think of writing as a representation of speech, and speech has changed since then. Pulju said he expects his form to be dominant eventually. But now, he – agreeing with Merriam-Webster – says that either way is acceptable. “As long as people can communicate successfully,” he said. “He won’t be confused about who Tim Walz’s mate is.”
If he wins in November, Harris will become the fourth US prez with the last name S and the first since Rutherford B Hayes, who was elected in 1876 – 130 years before the founding of Twitter – and was not influenced by social media. apostrophe. Harris is the first nominee with a tough last name since 1988, when Democrat Michael Dukakis lost to George HW Bush. Dukakis, now 90, said in a phone interview Monday that he doesn’t remember having similar discussions when he was nominated. But he agrees with AP. “It sounds to me like it will be s, apostrophe, and it,” he said.
The Harris campaign, meanwhile, has yet to take a clear stance. A press release on Friday by the New Hampshire team called it “Harris’ positive vision”, the day after the national press office wrote about “Harris’ seventh trip to Nevada.”
