Actually, grammatically you should never "s's." It does seem to give plurality, but works as possessive when a word ends in s; i.e. Burns' House is correct for identifying the house where Mr. Burns lives.
More importantly, it was proven that any nail driven through that part of the hand would rip through since it is mostly just flesh and some nerves. It is more accurate then, that all crucified individuals were nailed through the wrist, where tighter muscle and bone prevented ripping through.
Actually... the singular is always *'s. From The Elements of Style:
1. Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's.
Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write,
Charles's friend Burns's poems the witch's malice
This is the usage of the United States Government Printing Office and of the Oxford University Press.
Exceptions are the possessives of ancient proper names in -es and -is, the possessive Jesus', and such forms as for conscience' sake, for righteousness' sake. But such forms as Achilles' heel, Moses' laws, Isis' temple are commonly replaced by
the heel of Achilles the laws of Moses the temple of Isis
The pronominal possessives hers, its, theirs, yours, and oneself have no apostrophe.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-08 04:05 pm (UTC)Rule #1, Strunk and White's Elements of Style.
(Why do I care? When you have the last name of Burns, you get tired of being pluralized by people in casual reference. ;) )
(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-08 09:46 pm (UTC)More importantly, it was proven that any nail driven through that part of the hand would rip through since it is mostly just flesh and some nerves. It is more accurate then, that all crucified individuals were nailed through the wrist, where tighter muscle and bone prevented ripping through.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-08 10:12 pm (UTC)For the record. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-08 10:13 pm (UTC)And that is an achievement for any day, if you ask me.