Mr. Foss' home or Mr. Foss's home.
2007-04-09 08:33:08 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
It's "Mr. Foss's home." Some may disagree, but this is the most widespread standard.
2007-04-09 08:37:15 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
Mr. Foss's home
Most people on Yahoo answers seem to be from the US - I thought you might appreiate and english answer from an English lass.
Don't know why it's Mr Foss's home, it just is
2007-04-17 04:55:36 · answer #2 · answered by JANE W 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's Mr. Foss' home....even according to the article STEVE D was kind enough to provide. If you were talking about an entire family with the last name Foss, you'd pluralize the last name and then make it possessive: the Fosses' home.
If the last letter is a silent "s" like de la Croix, Illinois, etc, THEN you'd make it apostrophe s. But if there's the hard z or s sound, like Chambers or Foss, it's no apostrophe. The article mentioned that you just need to be consistent keeping or omitting the apostrophe. It's a great article that reinforced what I had learned many years ago. Thanks, Steve!
2007-04-09 09:08:36 · answer #3 · answered by ? 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Mr Foss's home. Mr. Foss is not plural and therefore you can't "s' " it
Ex. This is the dog's bone
This the the dogs' bone.
The first, 1 dog gets a bone, the 2nd, multiple dogs are sharing one...
I think that made sense :)
2007-04-16 11:14:06 · answer #4 · answered by clskrokchyk 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Ok, let's go to another source - Government Printing Office Style Manual. That one says apostrophe + s for all - Charles's, Foss's, Jones's, hostess's, etc.
Some style manuals do say that you use apostrophe only for possessive of words ending in 's'.
Some waffle - the Associated Press Style Manual says 's for common nouns (boss's), but only ' for proper nouns (Foss'). The AP seems silly - boss's but not Foss's?
It would seem best to pick one or the other. My preference goes to the GPO Style Manual and 's all the way. Consistent, removes any potential confusion with plural possessive.
2007-04-09 12:41:10 · answer #5 · answered by dollhaus 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Mr. Foss' home
2007-04-17 02:09:07 · answer #6 · answered by sally 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Mr. Foss', I know because I had wood shop and my last name is Foss and when I made the sign for my parents' house the woodshop guy made me put the apostrophe at the end...
2007-04-16 15:40:15 · answer #7 · answered by mclewis_13 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
FOSS'S home is correct. English possessives are actually very simple. Everything gets 's except plurals that already end in s whic just get an apostrophe after them '. So: horse's food (one horse). Horses' food (their food, lotsa horses). Mr Jones's car (one man). The Joneses' car (the family car). This si the rule though it does lead to some linguistic clumsiness, as in Jesus's and similar words.
2007-04-13 15:00:36 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
It's "Mr. Foss's home."
2007-04-13 14:12:54 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
though it seems wrong, with this example, i velieve it's mr. Foss's...it would make sense with Mr. Johnson's, it's just confusing because of the "S" sound...
2007-04-14 14:55:50 · answer #10 · answered by rawr 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋