Apostrophe Wars: Is It Kamala Harris' or Kamala Harris's?
Whatever encouraged Vice President Kamala Harris to pick Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, it probably wasn't a desire to start arguments about apostrophes. But it doesn't take much to get grammar fans fired up.
The Associated Press Stylebook says "use only an apostrophe" for singular proper names ending in S: as in "Dickens' novels," or "Jesus' life."
But not everyone agrees.
Debate about possessive proper names ending in S started soon after President Joe Biden cleared the way for Harris to run last month — is it Harris' or Harris's?
But the selection of Walz with his sounds-like-an-s surname really ramped it up, said Benjamin Dreyer, author of Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style.
While there is widespread agreement that Walz's is correct, confusion persists about Harris' vs. Harris's. Dreyer's verdict? Add the 's.
Ron Woloshun, a creative director and digital marketer in California, shared a similar opinion on the social platform X.
"The rule is simple: If you say the S, spell the S," he said.
Timothy Pulju, a senior lecturer in linguistics at Dartmouth College, said that until the 17th or 18th century, for proper names ending in S — such as Jesus or Moses — the name itself with no apostrophe or additional S denoted possession. Eventually, the apostrophe was added (Jesus' or Moses') to denote possession, though the pronunciation remained the same.
He said this is the standard he was taught but admitted that he doesn't think it's great because linguists view writing as a representation of speech, and speech has changed since then.
Pulju said he expects the 's form to become dominant eventually. But for now, he — along with the Merriam-Webster dictionary — says either way is acceptable.
"As long as people are communicating successfully, we say language is doing what it's supposed to be doing," he said.
