原文
1. Form the possessive singular of nouns with ’s.
單數名詞的所有格在后面加’s
Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write,
無論單詞以什么輔音字母結尾,都要遵守這條規則,寫成:
Charles’s friend
Burns’s poems
the witch’s malice
This is the usage of the United States Government Printing Office and of the Oxford University Press.
美國政府印刷局和牛津大學出版社都遵循這一規則。
Exceptions are the possessives of ancient proper names in -es and -is, the possessive Jesus’, and such forms as for conscience’ sake, for righteousness’ sake. But such forms as Achilles’ heel, Moses’ laws, Isis’ temple are commonly replaced by
例外包括以es或is結尾的古代專有名詞,耶穌的所有格Jesus’,以及for conscience’ sake,for righteousness’ sake這類型短語。然而,Achilles’ heel,Moses’ laws,Isis’ temple等短語通常寫成以下形式:
the heel of Achilles
the laws of Moses
the temple of Isis
The pronominal possessives hers, its, theirs, yours, and oneself have no apostrophe.
所有格代詞(hers,its,theirs,yours,oneself)不加撇號。
注解
單數名詞的所有格并沒有嚴格的標準,bus’和bus’s都可以。大家可以按照《風格的要素》里的建議,全部加’s。