Herb was sitting at Doris’ dressing table when she entered their bedroom.
“What are you doing?” she asked her husband.
“Pass me that rainbow wig over there, and my brush?”
“Excuse me?
“I’m trying out my Halloween costume for the community center costume party,” he explained. “I’ll need to borrow one of your fancy dresses. I think I can squeeze into one.”
“Indeed not,” Doris said. “What’s the matter with you?”
“I thought for one night it would be fun to pretend to be female.”
“Think again!”
(87 words)
Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where the word is “brush.”
Also for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (rainbow), Word of the Day Challenge (squeeze), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (indeed), and The Daily Spur (female).
I’d say no too.
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As I recall, you are a stickler for grammar, so I need to ask how many people named Doris are in the story?
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Just one Doris. Are you question why I used an apostrophe after her name in the first sentence? (“Doris’ dressing table”)? Or was there something else?
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That’s the one.
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I was using “Doris” in the possessive. It was her dressing table. In English, or at least in American English, when a word or a name ends in the letter “s” and you want to make it possessive, you put an apostrophe after the “s” in the word. For example, if I were called to go to the office that belonged to my boss, I would hurry and go to my boss’ office. Some people prefer to put a second “s” after the apostrophe, thereby writing “my boss’s office” or “Doris’s dressing table, but that second “s” is not necessary. At least that’s the way I was taught.
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This is all so confusing because I take Strunk and White as my main go-to for these things, and this is what I get:
1. Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding ‘s. Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write, Charles’s friend Burns’s poems the witch’s malice
Exceptions are the possessive of ancient proper names in -es and -is, the possessive Jesus’, and such forms as for conscience’ sake, for righteousness’ sake.
Strunk, Jr., William; White, E.B.. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition (p. 11).
No wonder I’m so confused …
Thank you for taking the time to answer and not being offended by my asking – we don’ learn nuffin’ if’n we don’ ax.
Now, what did I learn? [I’m groaning, here – which is the way to go? what do I put in my books?]
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I think it’s a matter of style and which “experts” on chooses to follow:
“Most experts and guides say you should add an apostrophe and an S to both proper and common nouns to make them possessive even when they end in S. So, using the examples above, it would be:
Chris’s car
the crocus’s petals
Not everyone agrees with this method, however, and some, such as the Associated Press Stylebook, nod in favor of adding only an apostrophe to make a proper noun possessive, such as:
Chris’ car
Dickens’ novels”
So I guess the answer is…. Wait, what IS the answer?
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Exactly!
The AP preferred method/style used less space. Newspapers!
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Fun to be a female? That’s a questionable idea at best ☺️
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Taking a walk on the wild side….? A fun little story. It would be a brave couple who decide to dress up at their other halves to go to a party. 🙂
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My oldest son and his wife dressed up as two characters in Stranger Things. He was the main female character, and she was one of the guys. Not quite as brave as had they tried to look actually like each other.
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Fantastic!
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😄
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Been there, done that, almost broke my ankle trying to dance in high heels. Never again!
My 87!
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There’s a future story there Keith! 🙂
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Me thinks ol’ Herb has a secret. Good one. 🙂
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Imagine Doris’ surprise! Hopefully she changes her mind and let’s Herb walk on the wild side for the night.
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I guess it’s up to him if he wants to dress female for a night. But it’s up to her if she wants to allow him to use her stuff or not… and what she will do if he does go out into the world dressed female.
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A nice and light read. Can’t part with the rainbow wig. 🙂
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