On your mark!
This month’s workout, “Possessives,” centers on section 7.15–28 of CMOS 16. Advanced editors might tackle the questions cold; learners can study those sections of the Manual before answering the questions.
Remember: The workouts are all about Chicago! If you’re an expert in MLA, AP, or New York Times style, you might be surprised to find that your instincts don’t quite match Chicago’s. That doesn’t mean that your answer is necessarily “wrong”—it just means it isn’t Chicago style.
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[Editor’s update: These styles have not changed in the 17th edition, although their section numbers may have changed.]
Note: These questions are designed to test knowledge of The Chicago Manual of Style. Other style guides may have different rules and guidelines. All ten questions this month are true/false.
Chicago Style Workout 10: Possessives (CMOS 7.15–28)
Photo: Jesse Owens, courtesy of Pixabay.
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A note on No. 5: There are nouns that end in -s where the singular and plural forms are the same but the possessive forms distinguish between singular and plural, for example, “marquis”: “The marquis’s daughters attended the dance.” / “The two marquis’ daughters met at the dance.” At least, that is how I would form the possessive plural of “marquis” (and pronounce both singular and plural possessive as [mar-KEEZ]).
That’s an interesting point! Chicago style is able to avoid that issue by preferring the plural marquises, per Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary.
Yes, that’s fine, but if you are writing a lot about the French nobility you may want to have a way of distinguishing the marquises from their wives and widows, the marquises.
100% — Guess creating that cheat sheet last month was worth it. 🙂