Books Arkansas' or Arkansas's

Garcia Bronco · 03-27-2024, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaFace

Sytlebooks conflict, but I was taught that it's a matter of singular vs plural, not just whether it ends with an S. Arkansas is singular, so the correct (albeit clunky) way would be to use Arkansas's.

A parallel would be, "I'm going to my friend Wes's house" rather than, "Wes' house."

If Arkansas wasn't a proper noun then it would be apostrophe s regardless of the word ending in an s. Since it's a proper noun the general correct spelling regardless of style books or style guides is Arkansas'.

**DaFace** · 03-27-2024, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

If Arkansas wasn't a proper noun then it would be apostrophe s regardless of the word ending in an s. Since it's a proper noun the general correct spelling regardless of style books or style guides is Arkansas'.

Nah. There are differences.

https://grammarist.com/punctuation/a...s-ending-in-s/

View Poll Results: Which spelling do you prefer?
Missouri is on Arkansas' northern border.	32	76.19%
Missouri is on Arkansas's northern border.	6	14.29%
Mis'ss'souri is's on Arkans'sas's northern border.	1	2.38%
The letter S doesn't exist. Check out "purfuit of happiness" in the Declaration of Indendence..	1	2.38%
I didn't make it that far in my schoolin'.	2	4.76%
Voters: 42. You may not vote on this poll