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VOA日常语法2024--Is It Harris' or Harris's?

时间:2024-09-13 02:11来源:互联网 提供网友:nan   字体: [ ]
    (单词翻译:双击或拖选)

The battle for the White House is set as Vice1 President Kamala Harris officially accepts the Democratic Party nomination2 on Thursday to run against former President Donald Trump3, the Republican nominee4.

However, another fight is just starting among grammar nerds over where to put the possessive apostrophe after her name. Is it Harris' or Harris's?

Eric Turkewitz, a New York lawyer, called the debate "apostrophe hell" on the social media website X. It has since received more than 2 million views.

The Associated Press Stylebook says, "Use only an apostrophe" for singular proper names ending in the letter "s," such as Dickens' book, Hercules' labors5, or Jesus' life. So, for Harris, it is Harris, followed by an apostrophe, as in "Harris' policy."

The AP Stylebook is widely used as the standard by American news organizations. But not everyone agrees.

Three large U.S. newspapers, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal all use Harris, followed by an apostrophe and the letter "s," as in "Harris's policy."

Adding to the confusion, they all agree that the singular possessive for Harris' running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, is Walz's. As for plural6 possessive, it is Harrises' as in Harrises' family home and Walzes' as in Walzes' cats.

Benjamin Dreyer is a retired7 editor who worked for the publisher Random8 House. He wrote Dreyer's English: An Utterly9 Correct Guide to Clarity and Style. He told the AP there is widespread agreement that Walz's is correct. But many flooded him with questions about what to do with the apostrophe after Harris.

Add the apostrophe and the letter "s," Dryer10 said. "To set the 's is just simpler, and then you can take your valuable brain cells and apply them to more important things."

Not so fast!

The American dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster joined the debate with this reminder11: "For names that end in an s or z sound, you can either add -'s or just an apostrophe. Going with -'s is the more common choice: the car that belongs to Jones → Jones's car or Jones' car."

Amanda Barrett is AP's vice president for news standards and inclusion. She said, while the AP style has evolved over the years, there are no plans to change the guidance on the possessive apostrophe "s."

Barrett added, "We do know that the conversation is out there and people make different choices when it comes to grammar, and that's all fine. Everyone makes a choice that works best for them."

Timothy Pulju teaches linguistics12 at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He said that until the 17th or 18th century, the possessive of proper names ending in the letter "s" - such as Jesus or Moses - often was simply the name itself with no apostrophe or additional "s." Eventually, the apostrophe (Jesus' or Moses') was added to mark the possession although the pronunciation remained the same.

"That became kind of the standard that I was taught and adhere to, even though in retrospect13, I don't think it's a great standard," he said.

Pulju expects most people will use the apostrophe followed by the letter "s" form over time. "As long as people are communicating successfully, we say language is doing what it's supposed to be doing," he said. "If you can read it whichever way it's written, then it seems like it's working for people..."

Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts was the last U.S. presidential candidate whose name ended with the letter "s." Dukakis told the AP that he does not remember any similar discussion when he was the Democratic nominee. But he agrees with the AP.

"It sounds to me like it would be s, apostrophe, and that's it," he said.

If Harris wins in November, she would become the fourth U.S. president with a last name ending in the letter "s" and the first since Rutherford B. Hayes, who was elected in 1876.

The Harris campaign has yet to take a clear position. Press releases issued by the campaign talked about "Harris's positive vision," and "Harris' seventh trip to Nevada."

Words in This Story

nerd -n. people who are very interested in the technical details of a subject that most people cannot relate to

apostrophe -n. a punctuation14 mark that has several uses including its use with an "s," to show the possessive form of a noun

standard -n. a level of quality or normal practice that is acceptable or desirable

confusion -n. a state of not understanding or not knowing what to do

editor -n. a person whose job it is to review written work, make changes and correct mistakes

evolve -v. to change over time

conversation -n. a discussion between people that is somewhat informal

century -n. a period of one hundred years (example: the 1900s are known as the 20th century)

adhere -v. to keep close to

in retrospect -phrase to look back in time or to think about the past


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 vice NU0zQ     
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的
参考例句:
  • He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
  • They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
2 nomination BHMxw     
n.提名,任命,提名权
参考例句:
  • John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
  • Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。
3 trump LU1zK     
n.王牌,法宝;v.打出王牌,吹喇叭
参考例句:
  • He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
  • The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手,作为他的王牌。
4 nominee FHLxv     
n.被提名者;被任命者;被推荐者
参考例句:
  • His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
  • Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。
5 labors 8e0b4ddc7de5679605be19f4398395e1     
v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 );苦干;详细分析;(指引擎)缓慢而困难地运转
参考例句:
  • He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors. 他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜,令人生厌。 来自辞典例句
  • Farm labors used to hire themselves out for the summer. 农业劳动者夏季常去当雇工。 来自辞典例句
6 plural c2WzP     
n.复数;复数形式;adj.复数的
参考例句:
  • Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
  • Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。
7 retired Njhzyv     
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的
参考例句:
  • The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
  • Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。
8 random HT9xd     
adj.随机的;任意的;n.偶然的(或随便的)行动
参考例句:
  • The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
  • On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查,发现肉变质了。
9 utterly ZfpzM1     
adv.完全地,绝对地
参考例句:
  • Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民,把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
  • I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。
10 dryer PrYxf     
n.干衣机,干燥剂
参考例句:
  • He bought a dryer yesterday.他昨天买了一台干燥机。
  • There is a washer and a dryer in the basement.地下室里有洗衣机和烘干机。
11 reminder WkzzTb     
n.提醒物,纪念品;暗示,提示
参考例句:
  • I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
  • It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知,她才付应该交的房租。
12 linguistics f0Gxm     
n.语言学
参考例句:
  • She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
  • Linguistics is a scientific study of the property of language.语言学是指对语言的性质所作的系统研究。
13 retrospect xDeys     
n.回顾,追溯;v.回顾,回想,追溯
参考例句:
  • One's school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
  • In retrospect,it's easy to see why we were wrong.回顾过去就很容易明白我们的错处了。
14 punctuation 3Sbxk     
n.标点符号,标点法
参考例句:
  • My son's punctuation is terrible.我儿子的标点符号很糟糕。
  • A piece of writing without any punctuation is difficult to understand.一篇没有任何标点符号的文章是很难懂的。
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