Is It Harris' or Harris's? - August 21, 2024

0:01The battle for the White House is set, as Vice President Kamala Harris officially accepts the Democratic Party nomination on Thursday to run against former president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. However, another fight is just starting among grammar nerds over where to put the possessive apostrophe after her name. Is it Harris' or Harris's? Eric Turkiewicz, a New York lawyer, called the debate on the social media website X. It has since received more than 2 million views. The Associated Press style book says use only an apostrophe for singular proper names ending in the letter S, such as Dickens's book So for Harris, it is Harris, followed by an apostrophe, as in Harris's policy. The AP-style book is widely used as the standard by American news organizations.

1:29But not everyone agrees. Three large U.S. newspapers – The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, all use Harris followed by an apostrophe and the letter S as in Harris' policy. Adding to the confusion, they all agree that the singular possessive for Harris' running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, is Walz's apostrophe S. As for the plural possessive, It is H-A-R-R I-S-E-S apostrophe or Harris's as in Harris' family home and W-A L-Z E-S apostrophe as in Wallace's cats. Benjamin Dreyer is a retired editor who worked for the publisher Random House. He wrote Dreyer's English, an utterly correct guide to clarity in style. He told the AP, there is widespread agreement that W-A-L-Z apostrophe S is correct.

2:43But many flooded him with questions about what to do with the apostrophe after Harris. Add the apostrophy and the letter S, Dreyer said. To set the apostrophes S is just simpler. And then you can take your valuable brain cells and apply them to more important things. The American Dictionary publisher Merriam Webster joined the debate with this reminder. For names that end in an S or Z sound, you can either add apostrophe-S or just an apostrophe. Going with apostrophe S is the more common choice. The car that belongs to Jones, J-O-N-E-S apostrophe s car or J-o-n-e-s apostrophe car. Amanda Barrett is AP's vice president for news standards and inclusion. She said, While the AP style has evolved over the years, there are no plans to change the guidance

3:47on the possessive apostrophe S. Barrett added, We do know that the conversation is out there and people make different choices when it comes to grammar, and that's all fine. Everyone makes a choice that works best for them. Timothy Pouliu teaches linguistics at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He said that until the 17th or 18th century, the possessive of proper names ending in the letter S, such as Jesus or Moses, often was simply the name itself with no apostrophe or additional S. Eventually, the apostrophe, Jesus' apostrophe or Moses' apostrophy, was added to mark the possession, although the pronunciation remained the same. That became kind of the standard that I was taught and adhere to, even though in retrospect

4:46I don't think it's a great standard," he said. Pulyu expects most people will use the apostrophe followed by the letter S form over time. As long as people are communicating successfully, we say language is doing what it's supposed to be doing, he said, if you can read it, whichever way it's written, then it seems like it's working for people. Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts was the last U.S. presidential candidate whose name ended with the letter S. Dukakis told the AP that he does not remember any similar discussion when he was a Democratic nominee, but he agrees with the AP. It sounds to me like it would be S, apostrophe, and that's it," he said. If Harris wins in November, she would become the fourth U. S. president with a last name

5:43ending in the letter S, and the first since Rutherford B. Hayes who was elected in 1876. The Harris campaign has yet to take a clear position. Press releases issued by the campaign talked about Harris' positive vision and Harris' seventh trip to Nevada. I'm Jill Robbins.