Apostrophes and pronunciation

[Marc]

Hi Alan, Torsten,

Here's my question:

Jones's Bakery (this means the bakery is owned by one Jones), but Joneses's Bakery (this means the bakery is owned by more than one Jones). But is there a difference in pronunciation? Am I right if they are both pronounced ending in /IZ/?
Then I have the following example: The Bushes and Bush's government; are "The Bushes" and "Bush's" also pronounced ending in /IZ/? I think they are, but would you please tell me if I'm wrong or not? I'd love to have your advice... Oh, and could you tell me why English is sometimes so difficult? I have a lot of sleepless nights, wondering about things like these

Bye, bye

Marc

[Torsten]

Dear Marc,

You have raised a very interesting topic — the possessive «s» and its pronunciation. If the singular noun ends in «s» you can either just add an apostrophe (’) or apostrophe «s» (’s):

For example:

«All of Rubens' pictures were published on the internet».
«All of Rubens’s pictures were published on the internet».

The spellings are pronounced differently. If you simply add an apostrophe, the pronunciation does not change, but if you add apostrophe «s» (’s), the possessive is pronounced /iz/.

So, you are right — in your examples the possessives are pronounced /iz/.
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