Hi there,

Would you please confirm if words ending in x and z, that sounds like they end in s could also be written with just the apostrophe. We were taught years ago in school that it was perfectly acceptable to write Felix's or Felix'.

Was this correct? I was informed by someone that there are different academic opinions.

Thanks for the help.

I'm afraid you were wrongly taught. Felix's is more correct than Felix'.

But there's a bit of give-and-take in this, as opinions vary as to what is correct. If you use 's whenever the noun or name is singular, you will be right most of the time.

However there are notable exceptions... and this is where pronunciation is a good pointer. If you don't pronounce "iz" at the end of the word, then it can be written with just an apostrophe.

Your example is pronounced "Felixes" so Felix's is appropriate. But in the case of Achilles' heel, it is not pronounced "Achilleses" and so doesn't take the extra s.

The same applies to some surnames that end in a soft s and where possessives do not usually get an extra syllable; for example, you might write "Charles Dickens' house".