Icarus's or Icarus'
Dear all,

To my knowledge, in English we say Tom's bag, Jane's eyes and etc. to tell whom the things belong to. When the last letter is "s" , we just add a ' for it. Is that correct?

But I read an ancient Greek myth " Wings". There was a guy whose name was Icorus. There is a sentence in the story " Icarus's father wanted to leave the island"....Here " Icarus's " is a typo or what?

Thanks

Maggie

Question

Icarus's or Icarus'
Dear all,

To my knowledge, in English we say Tom's bag, Jane's eyes and etc. to tell whom the things belong to. When the last letter is "s" , we just add a ' for it. Is that correct?

But I read an ancient Greek myth " Wings". There was a guy whose name was Icorus. There is a sentence in the story " Icarus's father wanted to leave the island"....Here " Icarus's " is a typo or what?

Thanks 

Maggie

Answer

Icarus' Wings is correct.

When the name ends in "s", we write it like that:
Thomas' Doubt.
James' Word.
Davis' House.

However, when speaking, we do pronounce it as: "Icarus'(es)"

That is the rule.

Answer

Thanks Eliot