Editing Apostrophe (section)

===={{anchor|Nouns ending with silent "s", "x", or "z"}}Nouns ending with silent ''s'', ''x'', or ''z''====
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The English possessive of French nouns ending in a silent ''s'', ''x'', or ''z'' is addressed by various style guides. Certainly a sibilant is pronounced in examples like ''Descartes's'' and ''Dumas's''; the question addressed here is whether ''s'' needs to be added. Similar examples with ''x'' or ''z'': ''{{lang|FR|[[Sauce Périgueux]]}}'s main ingredient is truffle''; ''His {{lang|FR|[[pince-nez]]}}'s loss went unnoticed''; ''"Verreaux('s) eagle, a large, predominantly black eagle, ''Aquila verreauxi'',..."'' ([[OED]], entry for "Verreaux", with silent ''x''; see [[Verreaux's eagle]]); in each of these some writers might omit the added ''s''. The same principles and residual uncertainties apply with "naturalised" English words, like ''Illinois'' and ''Arkansas''.<ref>In February 2007 Arkansas historian Parker Westbrook successfully petitioned State Representative Steve Harrelson to settle once and for all that the correct possessive should not be ''Arkansas<nowiki>'</nowiki>'' but ''Arkansas's'' ([http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/02/27/arkansas_house_to_argue_over_apostrophes/ ''Arkansas House to argue over apostrophes''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105225002/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/02/27/arkansas_house_to_argue_over_apostrophes/ |date=5 January 2009}}). Arkansas's Apostrophe Act came into law in March 2007 (ABC News [USA], 6 March 2007).</ref>

For possessive ''plurals'' of words ending in a silent ''x'', ''z'' or ''s'', the few authorities that address the issue at all typically call for an added ''s'' and suggest that the apostrophe precede the ''s'': ''The Loucheux's homeland is in the Yukon''; ''Compare the two Dumas's literary achievements''.{{NoteTag|1= An apparent exception is ''The Complete Stylist'', Sheridan Baker, 2nd edition 1972, p.&nbsp;165: "''... citizens' rights'', ''the Joneses' possessions'', and similarly ''The Beaux' Stratagem''." But in fact the ''x'' in ''beaux'', as in other such plurals in English, is often already pronounced (see a note to [[#Basic rule (plural nouns)|Basic rule (plural nouns)]], above); ''[[The Beaux Stratagem]]'', the title of a play by George Farquhar (1707), originally lacked the apostrophe (see [https://archive.org/details/beauxstratagema01farqgoog the title page] of a 1752 edition); and it is complicated by the following ''s'' in ''stratagem''. Some modern editions add the apostrophe (some with an ''s'' also), some omit it; and some make a compound with a hyphen: ''The Beaux-Stratagem''. Farquhar himself used the apostrophe elsewhere in the standard ways, for both omission and possession.}} The possessive of a cited French title with a silent plural ending is uncertain: "{{lang|FR|Trois femmes}}<nowiki/>'s long and complicated publication history",<ref>Jacqueline Letzter (1998) ''Intellectual Tacking: Questions of Education in the Works of Isabelle de Charrière'', Rodopi, p.&nbsp;123, {{ISBN|9042002905}}.</ref> but "{{lang|FR|[[Les noces]]}}<nowiki>'</nowiki> singular effect was 'exotic primitive' ..." (with nearby sibilants ''-ce-'' in ''noces'' and ''s-'' in ''singular'').<ref>Elizabeth A. McAlister (2002) ''Rara!: Vodou, Power, and Performance in Haiti and Its Diaspora'', University of California Press, p.&nbsp;196, {{ISBN|0520228227}}.</ref> Compare treatment of other titles, [[#With other punctuation; compounds with pronouns|above]].

Guides typically seek a principle that will yield uniformity, even for foreign words that fit awkwardly with standard English punctuation.