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[Max White]

With my limited knowledge of English I believe that is traditionally the case, although it seems the apostrophe of possession is less and less seen there days. It just isn't on peoples mind.


 

EDIT: Wait, is it "James' Book" or "Jame's book"... 99.99% sure it is the first.

[Caz]

The "'" Is by far one of the most useful punctuations available, so understanding it is important. The apostrophe is used in two ways: To indicate possession, and to indicate a contraction, with rare exception I will note. Firstly, possession: it is used in words such as "misko's" and "cat's", to indicate that the object belongs to the word used i.e. "that is Caz's book", means that is the book belonging to Caz. Secondly, the apostrophe is used to indicate a contraction, where words are combined to shorten. "Let us", for example, would be contracted as "let's", with the apostrophe being used. Other examples: "He will"="He'll", "should not"="Shouldn't" and "I would"="I'd". "Its", which can be either a contraction of "It is" or a possessive of "it", has an apostrophe only when it is a contraction; reason being "its" is a pronoun - similar to "hers" and "theirs" - and pronouns do not require an apostrophe, as they are possessive by nature.

I thought this, but then people say "possessive apostrophes are wrong! die sinner!" and I get confused all over again ._.

[tahujdt]

I remember an Internet Oracle response that s'tated that if you s'hould put an apostrophe before an s at the end of a word, you s'hould  put one at after the beginning s a's well.

[Caz]

EDIT: Wait, is it "James' Book" or "Jame's book"... 99.99% sure it is the first.

James's's'sses's

[Max White]

I remember an Internet Oracle response that s'tated that if you s'hould put an apostrophe before an s at the end of a word, you s'hould  put one at after the beginning s a's well.

I swear by the old gods and the new that is literally the most annoying, rage inducing typing quirk I have ever seen, and I've read Homestuck... Never EVER do that again!

[Tiruin]

Need links for that thanks.

...Was that in the context of 'personal accents done textualized?'

[Helgoland]

EDIT: Wait, is it "James' Book" or "Jame's book"... 99.99% sure it is the first.

James's's'sses's

James's. Say it out aloud.

[MaximumZero]

If, when using a possessive tense, the trailing s is dropped. If James owns a book, it is James' book.

[Mech#4]

I will say that I would still speak it like it's "James's", just in writing it's "James' "


And now James doesn't look like a word. Dammit.

[misko27]

If, when using a possessive tense, the trailing s is dropped. If James owns a book, it is James' book.

The grammar here is off; That first sentence doesn't make sense. You say, "If, when using a possessive tense, the trailing s is dropped", and then you stop there, leaving a dependent clause high and dry. You aren't saying what happens when you are using a possessive tense and the s is dropped. Such suspense.

Perhaps you intended to remove the "If, "? You could also imagine the If was intended to accompany something like "that is the case".

[kaijyuu]

Now that I'm aware of what misko said, MZ's bad grammar is nigh unparsable. Previously I read it as intended just fine.

Guess my brain has the innate ability to filter out bad grammar these days.

[SomeStupidGuy]

My understanding is that both "James' book" and "James's book" are both perfectly fine to use. It's a matter of your personal views on the matter, y'know?
'cuz the English language ain't the kind of language that don't need no consistency. :I

On to a happy: Been going on a bit of comic-binge, and IDW's DnD comic is one of the one's I'm checking out.
I mean, how can I resist a comic that starts off like this?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Yoink]

Your sig seemed strangely relevant. Almost like the next piece of dialogue or something.

[scrdest]

EDIT: Wait, is it "James' Book" or "Jame's book"... 99.99% sure it is the first.

James's's'sses's

James's. Say it out aloud.

Yeah, I've been told you drop the s only in plural, so it's James's books, but books' owner.

[Descan]

Also as far as I know, whether it's James' or James's, you still pronounce it like "Jameses".