Legal Writing

Quotation Marks and Apostrophe S

By Maeve Maddox

Aika asks:

how do I properly sequence “’s and punctuation marks?

As I can?t think of any example of beginning a quotation with a disembodied ?s, I?ll offer this guideline from the Chicago Manual of Style:

. . . A term enclosed in quotation marks . . . should never be made into a possessive. 7.30

For example, you can write the Atlantic Monthly?s editor or Gone With the Wind?s admirers because the titles taking the possessive are italicized. You may not, however, do the same thing with the title of a short work such as ?Ode on a Grecian Urn.?

Titles of short works are enclosed in quotation marks. You would have to rearrange your phrasing so as not to have: ?Ode on a Grecian Urn??s admirers. You?d rephrase it as admirers of ?Ode on a Grecian Urn.?

Full post as published by Daily Writing Tips on December 13, 2009 (boomark / email).