Vice President Kamala Harris’s selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate likely wasn’t intended to spark a grammatical debate, but it has certainly done so. The controversy flared almost immediately, engaging the passions of grammar enthusiasts across social media.
“The lower the stakes, the bigger the fight,” remarked Ron Woloshun, a creative director and digital marketer in California. He was quick to jump into the discussion on possessive proper nouns after Harris’s announcement. According to the Associated Press Stylebook, singular proper names ending in S should have an apostrophe but no additional S: think Dickens’ novels, Hercules’ labors, Jesus’ life. However, not everyone aligns with this guideline.
The debate gained momentum recently when President Joe Biden paved the way for Harris to run for president. This led to questions about the correct possessive form of her name: Harris’ or Harris’s? The addition of Walz, whose name ends in a Z sound that complicates matters further, intensified the discussion, according to Benjamin Dreyer, retired copy chief at Random House and author of “Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style.”
Dreyer found himself inundated with questions within minutes of the announcement—while he was at the dentist. “I was like, ‘All right, everybody just has to chill. I’ll be home in a little while and I can get to my desk,’” he recounted.
Although there’s a consensus that Walz’s is correct, the Harris versus Harris’s debate remains unresolved. Dreyer’s stance? Add the ’s. “To set the ’s is just simpler, and then you can take your valuable brain cells and apply them to more important things,” he advised.
Woloshun echoed this sentiment on the social platform X, which has turned into a battleground for apostrophe enthusiasts. “The rule is simple: If you say the S, spell the S,” he posted. This view aligns with the practices of The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, putting them at odds with AP’s guidelines.
Amanda Barrett, AP’s vice president for news standards and inclusion, stated that while AP’s style has evolved over the years, there are no plans to update guidance on possessives. “This is a longstanding policy for the AP. It has served us well, and we’ve not seen any real need to change. We do know that the conversation is out there and people make different choices when it comes to grammar, and that’s all fine. Everyone makes a choice that works best for them,” she said.
Timothy Pulju, a senior lecturer in linguistics at Dartmouth College, provided historical context. He explained that until the 17th or 18th century, possessive proper names ending in S often did not use an apostrophe. Eventually, the apostrophe was added for clarity, although the pronunciation remained the same.
Pulju expressed that he anticipates the ’s form to become dominant. Yet, for now, he and the Merriam-Webster dictionary find both forms acceptable. “As long as people are communicating successfully, we say language is doing what it’s supposed to be doing,” he noted. “If you can read it whichever way it’s written, then it seems like it’s working for people. They’re not getting confused about whose running mate Tim Walz is.”
If Harris wins in November, she would become the fourth U.S. president with a last name ending in S, and the first since Rutherford B. Hayes, who was elected in 1876—long before the age of social media. Harris’s predicament marks the first time such a linguistic challenge has arisen since Michael Dukakis, who lost to George H.W. Bush in 1988.
Dukakis, now 90, said in a phone interview that he doesn’t recall any similar discussions during his campaign and sides with the AP on the matter. “It sounds to me like it would be S, apostrophe, and that’s it,” he commented.
The Harris campaign has yet to issue a definitive stance on the matter. A recent press release from her New Hampshire team praised “Harris’s positive vision,” while her national press office mentioned “Harris’ seventh trip to Nevada.”
