FLL 4, Lesson 15 - apostrophe question

[Novafan]

My son just completed Lesson 15 in FLL 4. At the end of the lesson, there is an exercise called, Learn to Proofread: Insert an Apostrophe

 

The sentence to be corrected is:

 

this is the First Line from marjorie kinnan rawlingss Novel, the yearling.

 

In the answer key, the sentence reads:

 

This is the first line from Majorie Kinnan Rawlings's novel, The Yearling.

 

My question is about the apostrophe in Rawlings's novel. Can someone tell me the rule on adding an apostrophe to a proper name that ends in "s?" I would have written it this way:

Rawlings' novel.

 

Help!!

[Kipling]

You'll find different answers from different expert sources. There are many people who prefer your way - when you are making a word that ends in s possessive, you put an apostrophe and leave off the other s.

Jesus' disciples

Chris' car

However, there are people who think that you should put the 's because well, because that's how you make things possessive.

Jesus's disciples

Chris's car

I've also seen the rule where if the word has one syllable, you add 's and if the word has more than one syllable, you just put an apostrophe

Jesus' disciples

Chris's car

This last rule is the one that I follow because it's a compromise between the two.

[Crimson Wife]

There was a recent debate about this on the Michael Clay Thompson LA Yahoo group. It's one of those thorny grammar/mechanics issues where different programs teach different ways. Here is a great article on the subject. I personally prefer the "cleaner" look of s' rather then s's :ack2:

[Nart]

This question hits close to home. I would love to know what people are doing with their own names or dc's names too. I am on the fence about using the apostrophe with my son's name Nicholas. I go back and forth between using Nicholas' and Nicholas's.

[Paintedlady]

My last name ends in S and we always put the apostrophe after the S if using the possessive. I agree with how you would have written it.