US Presidential Election Brings Unexpected Debate: Should It Be Harris' Or Harris's?

As the US gears up for the presidential elections, a new debate, involving Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and her vice presidential pick, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, has taken the centre stage. While the political clash between Harris and Donald Trump grabs headlines, grammar nerds are debating whether to use Harris’ or Harris’s and Walz’ or Walz’s. This grammatical puzzle even involves JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, but his situation is less controversial due to his name ending with an “E”. One X user, sharing their opinion, argued that both are acceptable and shared her reason on the platform.

The individual wrote, “My take on the most pressing question of the season: how to punctuate the possessive forms of (singular) Harris and Walz. As others have said, both Harris’s and Harris’ are accepted spellings. My preference is to spell it the way we say it in conversation, Harris’s policies. A different rule of thumb (‘rule’ being a fuzzy term when it comes to a constantly evolving language) is the old-school take that the singular possessive with just an apostrophe was reserved for major historical or mythical figures: Zeus, Isis, Jesus, Moses. By that logic, the apostrophe-only styling definitely works: Kamala Harris’ presidency will certainly be a major historical event. So either way you go, you’re good.”

But The New York Times grammar columnist Jeffrey Barg points out there were no strict rules for adding an apostrophe to names ending in S or Z. He says, “People want to know what the rules are because they want to do this correctly. I think it’s going to be a learning experience for us as a country.”

Meanwhile, the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook, advises using just an apostrophe for singular names ending in S, like Dickens’ novels or Jesus’ life. In contrast, Merriam Webster, a dictionary publisher, believes that for names ending with S or Z, either adding ’s or just an apostrophe is acceptable, though ’s is more commonly used.

Meanwhile, Nicole Holliday, an associate professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, is also leaning towards using ’s for all presidential and vice-presidential candidates, such as Harris’s, Walz’s, Trump’s and Vance’s. Author Ellen Jovin criticises this style for causing confusion. She believes that such variation can be troubling and many English speakers find it awkward to see multiple S’s together.

While the debate over apostrophes may seem endless, the real focus for US citizens should be on how Kamala Harris or Donald Trump would bring change to the country after winning the presidential election in November.