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Quoth · 11-09-2019, 08:24 AM

The rule is that if it's pronounced Bootses then it's Boots's, but if spoken Boots, it's Boots'
Also another rule is that apostrophe use is also decided by custom or the owner of the brand, hence in UK "Currys" even though it was Curry's Cycle Shop or something like that in the 1920s.
There are some other exceptions
"Eats Shoots and Leaves" is poor value if you are good on apostrophes as it's nearly 1/3rd of the book. However, I recommend it. Available as hardback, paperback and ebook.
I have the Kindle & Hardback.
R. L. Trask's "The Penguin Guide to Punctuation" is also excellent and the author provides it free from his University web site.

Neither fully covers punctuation to do with dialogue, but you should own and read both.

I'd also recommend "The Elements of Style", I have the 4th Edition. Some points only apply to USA.
Finally "Essential English" by Harold Evans.

The most important thing is consistency. Some aspects of spelling vary with time (pairs of words get a hyphen and then become a compound word) or place (USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia, India (some provinces are over 90% native English speakers), UK (though usage can vary with Wales, Scotland East, Scotland Borders, Scotland West and Western Isles as well as N.I.). English in Ireland, especially outside the Pale, is influenced by Irish even among those that don't know Irish at all.
English usage should be by origin of characters and setting, not published country. A Kenyan may speak perfect British English and some USA ethnic groups would be incomprehensible to a Kenyan, Irishman or English man.

So I'd write Boots' as I'd say Boots, not Bootses.

Boots is also the title of two kinds of servants, a boy in Pre 20th C. big house in Britain that looks after shoes and boots and later perhaps anyone in a hotel doing the same. Not a plural when it's a name or title.

P.S. Maybe also get the Penguin Dictionary of Abbreviations. I've added on title page that there are four styles for time of day:

7 pm – Common and what I use, as I'm not in the USA.
7 p.m. Chicago & AP style guide, American.
7 AM – full size capitals
7 AM – small capitals, I don't now how to type that here.

The Penguin book by Rosalind Ferguson indicates US and UK usage.

Final point:
In formatting or editing a Public Domain work, it's normal to keep the usage of the author and only correct obvious OCR or typesetting errors.

11-09-2019, 08:24 AM	#2
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,235 Karma: 105299897 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	The rule is that if it's pronounced Bootses then it's Boots's, but if spoken Boots, it's Boots' Also another rule is that apostrophe use is also decided by custom or the owner of the brand, hence in UK "Currys" even though it was Curry's Cycle Shop or something like that in the 1920s. There are some other exceptions "Eats Shoots and Leaves" is poor value if you are good on apostrophes as it's nearly 1/3rd of the book. However, I recommend it. Available as hardback, paperback and ebook. I have the Kindle & Hardback. R. L. Trask's "The Penguin Guide to Punctuation" is also excellent and the author provides it free from his University web site. Neither fully covers punctuation to do with dialogue, but you should own and read both. I'd also recommend "The Elements of Style", I have the 4th Edition. Some points only apply to USA. Finally "Essential English" by Harold Evans. The most important thing is consistency. Some aspects of spelling vary with time (pairs of words get a hyphen and then become a compound word) or place (USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia, India (some provinces are over 90% native English speakers), UK (though usage can vary with Wales, Scotland East, Scotland Borders, Scotland West and Western Isles as well as N.I.). English in Ireland, especially outside the Pale, is influenced by Irish even among those that don't know Irish at all. English usage should be by origin of characters and setting, not published country. A Kenyan may speak perfect British English and some USA ethnic groups would be incomprehensible to a Kenyan, Irishman or English man. So I'd write Boots' as I'd say Boots, not Bootses. Boots is also the title of two kinds of servants, a boy in Pre 20th C. big house in Britain that looks after shoes and boots and later perhaps anyone in a hotel doing the same. Not a plural when it's a name or title. P.S. Maybe also get the Penguin Dictionary of Abbreviations. I've added on title page that there are four styles for time of day: 7 pm – Common and what I use, as I'm not in the USA. 7 p.m. Chicago & AP style guide, American. 7 AM – full size capitals 7 AM – small capitals, I don't now how to type that here. The Penguin book by Rosalind Ferguson indicates US and UK usage. Final point: In formatting or editing a Public Domain work, it's normal to keep the usage of the author and only correct obvious OCR or typesetting errors. Last edited by Quoth; 11-09-2019 at 08:33 AM. Reason: P.S.