The Grammar of English Grammars, page 630 by Gould Brown
<< Return to Title Details & Download631
be placed between the two; as, '_Dickens's_ works,'--'_Harris's_ wit.'"--_Day's Punctuation, Third London Edition_, p. 136. The following example, too, is right: "I would not yield to be your _house's_ guest."--Shakespeare.
OBS. 18.--All plural nouns that differ from the singular without ending in s, form the possessive case in the same manner as the singular: as, _man's, men's; woman's, women's j child's, children's; brother's, brothers' or brethren's; ox's, oxen's; goose, geese's_. In two or three words which are otherwise alike in both numbers, the apostrophe ought to follow the s in the plural, to distinguish it from the singular: as, the _sheep's_ fleece, the _sheeps'_ fleeces; a _neat's_ tongue, _neats'_ tongues; a _deer's_ horns, a load of _deers'_ horns.
OBS. 19.--Dr. Ash says, "Nouns of the plural number that end in s, will not very properly admit of the genitive case."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 54. And Dr. Priestley appears to have been of the same opinion. See his _Gram._, p. 69. Lowth too avers, that the sign of the possessive case is "never added to the plural number ending in s."--_Gram._, p. 18. Perhaps he thought the plural sign must involve an other s, like the singular. This however is not true, neither is Dr. Ash's assertion true; for the New Testament speaks as properly of "the _soldiers'_ counsel," as of the "_centurion's_ servant;" of "the scribes that were of the _Pharisees'_ part," as of "_Paul's sister's_ son." It would appear, however, that the possessive plural is less frequently used than the possessive singular; its place being much oftener supplied by the preposition of and the objective. We cannot say that either of them is absolutely necessary to the language; but they are both worthy to be commended, as furnishing an agreeable variety of expression.
"Then shall _man's_ pride and dulness comprehend His _actions', passions', being's_ use and end."--Pope.
OBS. 20.--The apostrophe was