Apostophes

[ChibiStarlet]

I'm having trouble with this. Every book or person I consult seems to have something different to say.

What do you do with the apostrophe in a possessive form when the name ends in "s"? For example, let's say I'm talking about my friend Chris, who has a hat. Is it Chris's hat? Or Chris' hat? Ulysses's journey or Ulysses' journey? Does it make a difference if the possessive changes the sound of the word?

Thoughts?  

[Dea Mariella]

I picked poll whore, only because I'm confused by your phrasing. I would say "Chris' hat" simply because that's the way that I was taught. If there is already an 's', then you don't need to put multiple. And actually, the example that I was taught with was Jesus. Jesus' is much nicer than Jesus's. Than it's just too much.

(Sorry... Catholic school up until 3rd grade!)

Dea-chan  

[ChibiStarlet]

Dea Mariella

I picked poll whore, only because I'm confused by your phrasing. I would say "Chris' hat" simply because that's the way that I was taught. If there is already an 's', then you don't need to put multiple. And actually, the example that I was taught with was Jesus. Jesus' is much nicer than Jesus's. Than it's just too much.

(Sorry... Catholic school up until 3rd grade!)

Dea-chan

Ooof, that poll was a little confusing. I tried to clear it up...I don't know if it worked. Thanks for the input on the question though! =)  

[MadnessFreak]

If there's only one, then there's an 's' at the end, whether or not it ends with 's'. If it's multiple of an object (doors, for instance), then it would be doors'.
(Eg. It was part of the doors' meeting).  

[chrystalclear]

As I was taught, you can do it either way. So for your example, "Chris' hat" or "Chris's hat" work.

As to MadnessFreak's comment about the multiple of an object, I have no idea. But I usually try to steer away from sentences with plural objects like that. Rewording always works better for me. (Just so you know, I wasn't entirely sure what that example meant. How do doors meet? o_o))  

[The MoUsY spell-checker]

The apostrophe follows the s in a plural possessive, and no extra s is needed. For example, "the girls' room" would be a room belonging to the girls.

For a name that ends with an s, the extra s is optional, and it is a matter of style whether you put the s or not.

In Eats, Shoots and Leaves, Lynne Truss wrote that in Fowler's Modern English Usage it is recommended that modern names ending in s should have the extra s after the apostrophe, and "ancient" names (examples given are Archimedes and Achilles), names that end in "es", and "Jesus" shouldn't have it.