A pedant writes....

[wobbler]

Yes I am sure it works for members' (where is Fnaar when you need him?). But does it change for a person's name. Thomas' book or Thomas's book?
I'm of to bed now I'll check back tomorrow, night all.

 

[Bromptonaut]

Thomas's book is just fine though the Simpsons's car looks a bit odd.

 

[Black Sheep]

No Thomas' book

 

[snorri]

I'm of to bed now I'll check back tomorrow, night all.

As this is a pedantic thread, I give you a f to sort that typo. or should that be an f??

 

[slowmotion]

Back to the first post. It could just be that the screen in the carriage had no facility to display apostrophes because the hardware/software lacked it. If it had, you would have had hours of entertainment, rather than annoyance.

There is bound to be an absolute howler in this post, BTW.

Edit: yep, there was a typo

 

[Aperitif]

I would like to view my train signs in slowmotion...

 

[slowmotion]

On my last three train trips, the signs were strangely blurred. Twice from alcohol partaken at the Seagull, and latterly through tears of frustration from Gatwick. I will check into a clinic at about 6pm this Friday.

 

[slugonabike]

As we're on the subject, there is a brewery here named Banks's. From the dim and distant passed I can remember something about names ending in S have the apostrophe only and not another S. Like what they have done. Are they right or wrong?

I was taught that the 's goes on the end to denote possesion, even if the name does end in an s. Hence anything belonging to Mr Slug is Chris's. I agree that it looks clumsy though!

 

[slugonabike]

Clear as mud

 

[Rhythm Thief]

As we're on the subject, there is a brewery here named Banks's. From the dim and distant passed I can remember something about names ending in S have the apostrophe only and not another S. Like what they have done. Are they right or wrong?

Both are right. "Banks's Brewery" is just as correct as "Banks' Brewery". It's all down to personal preference.
I lived half a mile from Banks's for fifteen years.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I'm with Arch on this one, by the way ... it would have annoyed me as well, though probably not to the point of writing to them about it. Mind you, after three hours, who knows?

 

[Over The Hill]

Both are right. "Banks's Brewery" is just as correct as "Banks' Brewery". It's all down to personal preference.
I lived half a mile from Banks's for fifteen years.

But then how do you say it?

"Banks Brewerey" or Banks(e)s Brewery"

 

[ASC1951]

Clear as mud

Be wary of US sites. Their grammatical usage is often different to British English, not simply their spelling. And you are right - someone there needs to realise that giving twenty examples of something doesn't make it twenty times as clear.

 

[Archie_tect]

Where the noun or proper name ends in an s you add 's but when the noun is plural, you just add an '. So with The Simpsons, you have a dilemma as the name "The Simpsons" is a title so the name is singular and the family group is plural... however the show's title does not own a car, only the family does...
wish I'd never started to read this thread.

Arch, could you just travel on East Coast or Virgin next time?

 

[slugonabike]

Be wary of US sites. Their grammatical usage is often different to British English, not simply their spelling. And you are right - someone there needs to realise that giving twenty examples of something doesn't make it twenty times as clear.

Ah, I overlooked the fact that it was a US site