This is an international forum, and -- thank goodness -- the entire world is not yet ruled by the iron hand of Strunk.

Less directive authorities (not least, Webster, as well as such British gurus as Fowler, Gowers and Fraser) take the view that language is dynamic and seek to advise following observation rather than to prescribe. For these, the test of clarity acts as a touchstone to determine good practice. The British trio advise that, for the possessive of names ending in 's', either "'s" or a simple additional apostrophe are in routine use; since both forms are clear, either is acceptable.

Gowers notes that whilst logic would suggest consistently adding "'s", this form is almost universally used with shorter nouns (as in the previously cited example "Russ's"), but that some authors prefer to use the simple apostrophe with longer nouns (i.e. "Diabolos'"). In other words, it's entirely a matter of preference.

Do I hear one cheer for the grammer (sic) police?

Ceridwen

Edit: changed "words" to "names" to clarify scope of discussion.

Edited, Wed Dec 21 07:03:16 2005