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,—­

     Here at the fruiterer’s the Madonna has a tabernacle of fresh
     laurel leaves.—­RUSKIN.

     It is very common for people to say that they are disappointed in
     the first sight of St. Peter’s.—­LOWELL.