Why is it "Paris's cafés" but "Massachusetts' capital"?
I've been studying the apostrophe and found this in Merriam-Webster's
Guide to Punctuation and Style:
The possessives of proper names are generally formed in the same way as
those of common nouns. The possessive of singular proper names is formed
by adding -'s.
Paris's cafes
The possessive of plural proper names, and of some singular proper names
ending in an s or z sound, is made by adding just an apostrophe.
Massachusetts' capital
New Orleans' annual festival
I find this contradictory. Why do you form the possessive of Paris as
Paris's but the possessive of Massachusetts as Massachusetts', given that
they both end in an s which is not silent? What's the difference between
those?
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