Joe wrote:
I agree that "St. James' " or "St. James's" is a matter of debate.
It is considered better practice to omit the additional "s",

By whom?

I always thought that they were to show posession and to show missing
letters in words.
Anyone who watched 'Grumpy Old Men' a few weeks ago will know that
Barons Court doesn't belong to a Baron, yet Earl's Court belongs to
an Earl.

I missed that programme, but always wondered why the apostrophe was in one
but not the other. Why is Barons Court so named? (Oh, and just to confuse
matters, the name on the street signs nearby is "Baron's Court Road"!)

Does St James'/St James's/St James/St. James Park belong to
St James?

I think you'll find that St James's Park is named after St James's Palace,
which was built by Henry VIII on the site of the Hospital of St James.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

Anyone who watched 'Grumpy Old Men' a few weeks ago will know that Barons
Court doesn't belong to a Baron, yet Earl's Court belongs to an Earl.

I don't remember the resolution. I just remember Tony Hawks had written to
Ken Livingstone asking why one had the apostrophe and the other didn't and
being impressed that the reply he got was deliberately stuffed full of
misused apostrophes.

I missed that programme, but always wondered why the apostrophe was in one
but not the other. Why is Barons Court so named? (Oh, and just to
confuse
matters, the name on the street signs nearby is "Baron's Court Road"!)

Well ignoring whether or not it ought to have an apostrophe, I just had a
look around and it seems the suggestion was that it was an invented name for
something like a housing development. Similarly you get Kingsbury which is
an old name, say Saxon or something like that, and Queensbury which is from
modern times.

"Mait001" wrote in message
...
I agree that "St. James' " or "St. James's" is a matter of debate. It is
considered better practice to omit the additional "s", although I would
not
agree that it is grammatically wrong to include it.

Why do I say "better practice"? Because it is The Queen's English and Her
Majesty's Court is known as the "Court of St. James' " and not the Court
of
"St. James's". For example, Ambassadors are appointed to "the Court of St.
James' ", not "the Court of St. James's" or even "the Court of St. James".

There is no apostrophe in "The Court of St James". St James in this case is
not the genitive case.
--
Terry Harper
http://www.terry.harper.btinternet.co.uk/

Terry Harper wrote:
"Mait001" wrote in message
...
I agree that "St. James' " or "St. James's" is a matter of debate.
It is considered better practice to omit the additional "s",
although I would not agree that it is grammatically wrong to include
it.

Why do I say "better practice"? Because it is The Queen's English
and Her Majesty's Court is known as the "Court of St. James' " and
not the Court of "St. James's". For example, Ambassadors are
appointed to "the Court of St. James' ", not "the Court of St.
James's" or even "the Court of St. James".

There is no apostrophe in "The Court of St James". St James in this
case is not the genitive case.

True, but that's not actually what they call it. It's "The Court of St
James's" in the Court Circular, and at www.royal.gov.uk. I assume it's
short for St James's Palace.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 13:16:58 GMT,
(Nick Cooper) wrote:

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 10:16:59 -0000, "Joe"
wrote:

AFAIK there is only one incorrect "St. James' Park" sign (eastbound, near
the front of the train, by the stairs). Considering that the LU HQ is
above the station, it's remarkable that the sign has never been replaced.

St. James' Park is the correct way to show it. St James's Park is incorrect.
Its like; I'm going to Chris' House, not I'm going to Chris's house

A common misconception. The "s" after the apostorphe is only omitted
if the word is a plural, rather than a singular, noun. E.g. "boys'
games" compared to "Burns's poems."

Hmm... I was most definitely taught in school that my name would be
" Lewis' " and not " Lewis's " - and that was only 10 or so years ago.

Regardless of that, Lewis's looks ugly and tends to make people
mispronounce my name. I solve the situation by simply having " Lew's "
!

Best Wishes,
LEWIS (with one S)
---
This message has come to an end.
Please exit to your left.

*UK Dark Ride and UK Theme Park Trip Reports*
http://www.lewstube.fsnet.co.uk

Remove my clothing to reply.

Lew 1 (from the UK) wrote:
On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 13:16:58 GMT,
(Nick Cooper) wrote:

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 10:16:59 -0000, "Joe"
wrote:

AFAIK there is only one incorrect "St. James' Park" sign
(eastbound, near the front of the train, by the stairs).
Considering that the LU HQ is above the station, it's remarkable
that the sign has never been replaced.

St. James' Park is the correct way to show it. St James's Park is
incorrect. Its like; I'm going to Chris' House, not I'm going to
Chris's house

A common misconception. The "s" after the apostorphe is only omitted
if the word is a plural, rather than a singular, noun. E.g. "boys'
games" compared to "Burns's poems."

Hmm... I was most definitely taught in school that my name would be
" Lewis' " and not " Lewis's " - and that was only 10 or so years ago.

sigh Another sign that English isn't taught well these days. If you had
been brought up in, say, Liverpool or Manchester, you would have been very
familiar with the large store called Lewis's (different company to John
Lewis).

Regardless of that, Lewis's looks ugly and tends to make people
mispronounce my name. I solve the situation by simply having " Lew's "

OK if you don't mind being named after toilets!
:-)

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

In article , (Richard J.) wrote:

sigh Another sign that English isn't taught well these days. If
you had been brought up in, say, Liverpool or Manchester, you would have been
very familiar with the large store called Lewis's (different company to
John Lewis).

Elsewhere you would have been exhorted by adverts on trams and buses to
"Shop at Binns" (I think without any apostrophe - but the proprietor's name was
Binns).


--
Peter Beale

"Richard J." wrote in message
...
sigh Another sign that English isn't taught well these days. If you had
been brought up in, say, Liverpool or Manchester, you would have been very
familiar with the large store called Lewis's (different company to John
Lewis).

Different company *from* ....


Robin

"Lew 1 (from the UK)" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 13:16:58 GMT,
(Nick Cooper) wrote:

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 10:16:59 -0000, "Joe"
wrote:

AFAIK there is only one incorrect "St. James' Park" sign (eastbound,
near
the front of the train, by the stairs). Considering that the LU HQ
is
above the station, it's remarkable that the sign has never been
replaced.

St. James' Park is the correct way to show it. St James's Park is
incorrect.
Its like; I'm going to Chris' House, not I'm going to Chris's house

A common misconception. The "s" after the apostorphe is only omitted
if the word is a plural, rather than a singular, noun. E.g. "boys'
games" compared to "Burns's poems."

Hmm... I was most definitely taught in school that my name would be
" Lewis' " and not " Lewis's " - and that was only 10 or so years ago.

Regardless of that, Lewis's looks ugly and tends to make people
mispronounce my name. I solve the situation by simply having " Lew's "

But if "Lewis'" was pronounced as spelled (and not as Lewis's) then people
would think that your name was Lewi!