Though this opinion was untrue, the apostrophe has proved a great convenience, since otherwise words with a plural in _-s_ would have three forms alike. To the eye all the forms are now distinct, but to the ear all may be alike, and the connection must tell us what form is intended.
The use of the apostrophe in the plural also began in the seventeenth century, from thinking that _s_ was not a possessive sign, and from a desire to have distinct forms.
[Sidenote: _Sometimes_ s _is left out in the possessive singular._]
65. Occasionally the _s_ is dropped in the possessive singular if the word ends in a hissing sound and another hissing sound follows, but the apostrophe remains to mark the possessive; as, _for goodness' sake, Cervantes' satirical work_.
In other cases the _s_ is seldom omitted. Notice these three examples from Thackeray's writings: "Harry ran upstairs to his _mistress's_ apartment;" "A postscript is added, as by the _countess's_ command;" "I saw what the _governess's_ views were of the matter."
[Sidenote: _Possessive with compound expressions._]
66. In compound expressions, containing words in apposition, a word with a phrase, etc., the possessive sign is usually last, though instances are found with both appositional words marked.
Compare the following examples of literary usage:--
Do not the Miss Prys, my neighbors, know the amount of my income, the items of my _son's_, _Captain Scrapegrace's_, tailor's bill--THACKERAY.
The world's pomp and power sits there on this hand: on that, stands up for God's truth one man, the _poor miner Hans Luther's_ son.--CARLYLE.
They invited me in the _emperor their master's_ name.--SWIFT.
I had naturally possessed myself of _Richardson the painter's_ thick octavo volumes of notes on the "Paradise Lost."--DE QUINCEY.
They will go to Sunday schools to teach classes of little children the age of Methuselah or the dimensions of _Og the king of Bashan's_ bedstead.--HOLMES.
More common still is the practice of turning the possessive into an equivalent phrase; as, _in the name of the emperor their master_, instead of _the emperor their master's name_.
[Sidenote: _Possessive and no noun limited._]
67. The possessive is sometimes used without belonging to any noun in the sentence; some such word as _house_, _store_, _church_, _dwelling_, etc., being understood with it: for example,--