3
   

Apostrophe s

 
 
Reply Thu 5 Jun, 2014 09:34 am
Hello! This has been bugging me for a while. Where would I put the apostrophe s in the following sentence? This cause having come on for consideration upon the Defendant, JOHN DOE, Motion to Continue Trial, and the Court having been advised that... Does the apostrophe s go at the end of Defendant or at the end of JOHN DOE?
TIA!
  • Topic Stats
  • Top Replies
  • Link to this Topic
Type: Discussion • Score: 3 • Views: 739 • Replies: 5
No top replies

 
dalehileman
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Jun, 2014 10:44 am
@ericak4205,
Wow eric, I'm impressed by the determination of you esl fellas. While I believe the convention in legalize might omit such punctuation, in a purely technical sense you might need one at both stations
ericak4205
 
  1  
Reply Fri 6 Jun, 2014 12:26 pm
@dalehileman,
Thanks. So, it is acceptable to say Defendant, JOHN DOE's, Motion to Continue Trial?
contrex
 
  1  
Reply Fri 6 Jun, 2014 01:30 pm
@ericak4205,
ericak4205 wrote:
Thanks. So, it is acceptable to say Defendant, JOHN DOE's, Motion to Continue Trial?

Yes. In fact it is not just acceptable, it is mandatory. In constructions such as "the defendant, John Doe", and when using compound nouns, phrases, etc, e.g: attorney at law, Mr Brown of New York, John White Junior, Mary Jones, the writer, the apostrophe and s is added to the element nearest the object possessed or connected.

The defendant, John Doe's motion
The attorney at law's fee
John White Junior's book
Mr Brown of New York's wife
Mary Jones, the writer's husband

contrex
 
  1  
Reply Fri 6 Jun, 2014 02:12 pm
But note:

The cat's owner's wife's mother

0 Replies
 
ericak4205
 
  1  
Reply Fri 6 Jun, 2014 05:19 pm
@contrex,
Very helpful! Thank you.
0 Replies
 
 

Related Topics

 
  1. Forums
  2. » Apostrophe s
Copyright © 2024 MadLab, LLC :: Terms of Service :: Privacy Policy :: Page generated in 0.12 seconds on 12/05/2024 at 06:22:42