Point of Order: "The Marauders"

[nobodysrib]

No: HPFGUIDX 53437

Mr. Ed asked "a silly (and tangentially related, if you stretch real 
hard, to the HP series)literary question to all our resident 
apostrophists": 

> If the HP character Seamus is ever the victim of the Avada Kedavra 
> curse and his friends stood watch over his body, how would you 
> punctuate what that watch would be called?    ;)

I, a self-proclaimed apostrophist, respond:

The wordage of your question, cleverly arranged to eliminate 
apostrophe use, has confused me a bit, but I think I understand the 
gist of your question.

There are two possibilities:  The friends are either standing watch 
over "Seamus' body" or "Seamus's body."  In grammar school I was 
taught the former was correct, but, according to _The Chicago Manual 
of Style_ (this is a bible of sorts for apostrophists and other 
grammarians...) *either* is acceptable, and the latter is preferred.

>From _The Chicago Manual of Style_ website:

> Q. When indicating possession of a word that ends in s, is it 
> correct to repeat the s after using an apostrophe? For example, 
> which is correct: "Dickens' novel" or
"Dickens's novel"?

> A. Either is correct, though the main CMS recommendation is the 
> latter. Please consult 6.30 (p. 201) in the fourteenth edition, 
> which has a full discussion of these options, including, 
> specifically, the example of Dickens (and the phonetically similar 
> Hopkins and Williams).
(www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/cmosfaq/cmosfaq.html)

Hope this was of some help.

- Nobody's Rib, who at times is frightened by her love of punctuation