Working recently on a website for the BBC Governors, we suddenly noticed an inconsistency, highlighting one of the eternal punctuation posers: what to do about possessives on words ending in 's'? In our copy, we'd used what we've held to be the current norm, as recommended by the Economist style guide - ie, James's rather than James'. Copy from the BBC's own site, however, used James'. What to do? 

The BBC's style guide said do either - but be consistent. The BBC's Annual Report uses James', so that's what we went for. Fine. Though on balance we still prefer the Economist's general rule, even if it does throw up the occasional weirdness. As, eg, with Bob Geldorf's daughter, Peaches: to talk of Peaches's whatever does sound perversely odd - and almost unsayable, for that matter, which is surely a criterion of sorts. 

Let's hear it, though, for the openness and vitality of English, where there often simply is no definitive Right Answer (leaving plenty of room for interesting and fruitful discussion) as compared with French - undeniably beautiful, yet shackled by the cold hand of L'Académie, with its 'correct answer' to every question. 

Vive la difference!

Kind regards

Alan Paterson
ampers& limited
t: +44 (0)20 7379 5869
f: +44 (0)20 7379 5875
www.wherewordswork.com
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