Yes, I told a lie last post. There's one other apostrophe problem I'd like to address before we put the subject of this little punctuation mark to bed.
Many writers are confused about whether or not to place an apostrophe after a possessive name or noun that ends in "s."
For example, is it Charles's suit, or Charles' suit?
The buses' doors are broken. Or is it buses's?
Is the Jones's house sign written as The Jones's or The Jones'?
And if Charles's and Jones's are correct, then do we pronouns both "s" sounds, or not?
The answer to the above questions is frustrating: it depends.
It depends on whether you are writing for a North American or a European audience, and whether or not the name or word in question is modern, biblical or foreign.
Tastes change, and therefore so does proper usage in this matter. We should all adopt some degree of flexibility, and I again suggest that clarity is always the writer's main goal. Consistency comes next.
If you're a true stickler, though, according to Fowler's Modern English Usage, possessive names ending in "s" require an additional "s" after the apostrophe.
So, it's The Jones's, then. Pronounce both "s's."
But if a name is referring to someone from antiquity, only one "s" and an apostrophe will suffice: Herodotus' travels; Ulysses' home.
And if the name ends in an "iz" sound, (as in Ulysses, above) use only one "s" and an apostrophe.
Lastly, Jesus' name, in a possessive form, is always written with only one "s" followed by an apostrophe.
As for the buses, it just sounds silly to pronounce both "s's" in the possessive buses's.
Best to keep it simple, although here you run the danger of confusing a singular bus with a plural: One bus's door was still broken, but two buses' doors had been repaired.
Okay--enough said about the apostrophe. Next time: the period (or dot, as some people like to call it now).
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