Question for the grammar Nazis
 

Question:

If a company name (or any other proper name) ends in an "s" and you are speaking of something that belongs to that company, what is the proper way to say it?

If you were talking (well, writing) about the web site that belonged to XYZ Productions, would it be

XYZ Productions' web site or
XYZ Productions's web site

I know it would not be XYZ Production's, but I am having a discussion about which is proper. Any thoughts?

I think the use of 's is possesive. Like Mark's stuff. Production can't really be possesive but can be "mulitiple" as in more than one production, thus would be Productions. I believe it would be Productions'.

IMHO

You are correct. It would be Productions'.

I knew my years as an editor would eventually pay off... :cool:

There's no "right" answer in this case. You can't really go on the plural thing because, while the word "Productions" is plural, the entity as a whole (which is the possessive subject) is a single company. So it's one of the few instances where "Whatever sounds better" wins. Since "Productions's" would be pretty awkward to pronounce, "Productions'" is probably the better choice.

But the difference that I was asking about was when the proper name ends in "s". Note that the name of the example company I gave include an "s" at the end of the name.

Any proper name can be possessive - something can belong to it.

Yeah, the pronunciation thing is what throws me - is that a rule?

I have this recollection that the proper way to write it was Productions's, but that was many years ago.

It's accepted practice to fall back on pronunciation and supported by several prominent style guides.

Productions'.

That said, how about, "Lightyear's above the rest."

Used to drive me crazy.

Yeah, anything that ends with a proper "s" would be s' . Like "Warner Brothers". Exp: Warner Brothers' record label.