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ImageSMART TALK

by Dr. Ced Riley


NOOKS AND CRANNIES: At the Center for English as a First Language, we love to hoot at this phrase on the English muffin packages. It's much like saying "in this day and age," not quite synonyms, but close enough to feel uncomfortably redundant to us. After all, we fight linguistic misdemeanors such as redundancies for a living.

We get exercised over the brand name, too. Thomas' is supposedly pronounced with three syllables; so apparently, an apostrophe has a pronunciation. Right. So how does a comma sound?

Here in Underbelly, Texas, both Smith Elementary and Wesson High Schools repeatedly teach that you indicate possession with an apostrophe and an S. We always have exceptions, but that's the rule. Simple. An apostrophe hanging out there by itself is considered a single quotations mark, and an error.

So it's Thomas's. Always. No exceptions. A final S on a word doesn't change the rule. As with Jesus's stories, you folks's seats, and Thomas's English Muffins, you need that extra S, because that's how you say it. Why make it more complicated?

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