Apostrophic faith
Sir: Suffering from a condition verging on OCD when it comes to usage of the apostrophe, I am compelled to write in defence of St Thomas’ Hospital to Dot Wordsworth’s suggestion (Mind your language, 31 March) that it misuses this notoriously difficult punctuation mark. I was taught at grammar school in 1973 that there are two correct options for using the possessive apostrophe for singular nouns ending in s, depending on personal preference; thus Thomas’s and Thomas’ are equally acceptable. This is backed up by Wikipedia (using the possessive apostrophe with singular nouns end ing in s or z). Correctpunctuation.co.uk agrees, although it goes further, to say that when using a possessive apostrophe with religious or ancient names ending in s, the ’s option should not be used. So, no need for an expensive sign change for the hospital, I believe.
Claire Keeling
London EC3
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