Re: Possessive form of Jr., Sr., etc.

[Charles Riggs]

On Tue, 17 May 2005 00:01:42 -0500, Fred G <he...@nospam.org> wrote:

>How does one form the possessive of these?
>
>Frank Martin Jr.'s house.
>
>Frank Martin, Jr.'s, house.

I'd avoid the direct use of it in writing, in some way. For example,
'Frank Martin, Jr (or 'Jr.' in AmE) lives just down the road. You can
almost see Frank's house from here, in fact.' The possibilities are
endless, whereas Jr's -- or worse, III's -- will look awkward no
matter how it is handled.

Charles Riggs--

There are no accented letters in my email address.

[Mark Brader]

Fred G. writes:
> Frank Martin Jr.'s house.

Fine if he spells it without a comma.

> Frank Martin, Jr.'s, house.

If he spells it with a comma, you're stuck -- there's no answer that
everyone will accept. I think many people would write

Frank Martin, Jr.'s house.

And that's as good as any, if you have to write it that way.
--
Mark Brader | "In the USA politicians run for office. In Britain they
Toronto | stand for office. Of course... once elected... [they]
m...@vex.net | neither run nor stand, they lie." --John Cletheroe

[Colin Samuel Rosenthal]

In article <118j5dn...@corp.supernews.com>, m...@vex.net says...

> Fred G. writes:
> > Frank Martin Jr.'s house.
>
> Fine if he spells it without a comma.
>
> > Frank Martin, Jr.'s, house.
>
> If he spells it with a comma, you're stuck -- there's no answer that
> everyone will accept. I think many people would write
>
> Frank Martin, Jr.'s house.

For comic effect it would be hard to beat "Frank Martin's house Jr.".

--
Colin Rosenthal Sabbagh's Second Law: The biggest problem with
communication is the illusion that it has occurred.

[Roland Hutchinson]

Colin Samuel Rosenthal wrote:

> In article <118j5dn...@corp.supernews.com>, m...@vex.net says...
>> Fred G. writes:
>> > Frank Martin Jr.'s house.
>>
>> Fine if he spells it without a comma.
>>
>> > Frank Martin, Jr.'s, house.
>>
>> If he spells it with a comma, you're stuck -- there's no answer that
>> everyone will accept. I think many people would write
>>
>> Frank Martin, Jr.'s house.
>
> For comic effect it would be hard to beat "Frank Martin's house Jr.".

Could also be Frank Martin's Jr. house, parallel with Leland Stanford's
Junior University.

--
Roland Hutchinson              Will play viola da gamba for food.

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