Apostrophe Fail: Mens' Netball

A reader sent in this classic apostrophe fail. It's amazing how many folks get this wrong.

Where does Beds SU go wrong? It misplaces the apostrophe when forming a possessive of a plural that does not end in s.

Quick rules:

• To form the possessive of a singular word or a person's name, add apostrophe + s.  The candy bar's wrapper was sticky. This is also true for singular proper nouns that already end in s. James's singing is impressive. Hans's backpack is blue. [see exceptions, below]
• To form the possessive of a plural word that ends in s or es, simply add an apostrophe. The candy bars' wrappers were sticky. The ladies' room is down the hall. This is also true for plural proper nouns. Raccoons made a mess of the Joneses' garage.
• To form the possessive of a plural word that doesn't end in s, add apostrophe + s. The women's room is down the hall. The children's festival is happening in the park.

Exceptions: For the sake of pronuncation, the AP Stylebook and Chicago Manual of Style make exceptions for names of more than one syllable with an unaccented ending. So the possessives of Jesus, Moses and Eurpides become Jesus', Moses' and Euripides'.


Correction:

• Men's Netball