(03-02-2020, 03:51 AM)Alliecat Wrote: I think it depends on whether you’re using the words as the doll’s name, or the company’s name. If you are talking about the company’s doll, you would need the apostrophe as a possessive. If it’s the doll’s name then no. Like “Mattel’s Barbie” vs. the Mattel Barbie. “Character Options’ doll” vs. “the Character Options doll”.
In this case, the question was how to punctuate the possessive that means "the coat belonging to the doll from Character Options."
Neon went with "... the Character Options' coat..." with which I concur... until I start thinking about it. Would "... the Character Options's coat..." have been more grammatically correct in this particular instance? We're not referring to "Character Options" the company, but to a single doll for whom "Character Options" is being used as an identifier. The coat does not belong to Character Options, the company, but rather, to a doll from the Character Options company.
I still think "... the Character Options' coat..." is correct, but I do not think "... the Character Options's coat..." would necessarily be incorrect in this specific case. Odd, perhaps, but not incorrect.
I suppose the really odd thing here is that there are at least three of us among a relatively small handful of active forum members who care about things like this, which is an extremely high percentage compared to the number of people in the public at large who know or care about, or even have the faintest understanding of, apostrophes.
Now I'm curious as to whether the doll hobby on the whole attracts a more literate... or grammatically uptight... crowd than might be exˆpected, or is it just an anomaly here on this forum?
They're not dolls, they're action figures!