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How would one write a possessive form for a proper noun that already has an apostrophe-s in it? For example, I want to use the possessive form of "McDonald's" maybe in the sentence "The Market Street McDonald's' employees are friendly."

I realize the possessive form may not be entirely necessary there, but in a case where it is, what is correct?

StanMarsh
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    Even worse is the possessive of the plural of proper nouns that have an apostrophe in their singular form. E.g.: "In this town the McDonald'ses' hours are worse than the Wendy'ses'." – Sven Yargs May 07 '14 at 19:08
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    This is not a duplicate of the linked question. They are two distinct but related questions. A singular proper noun ending with 's, such as McDonald's, is different from a proper noun ending in the plural suffix s, such as Dunkin' Donuts. – herisson Apr 08 '16 at 19:40
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    It's true the first sentence of this question just says "already has an s in it," but the title mentions apostrophes, so the question as a whole is more specific. I think it would be more appropriate to mark it as a duplicate of the following question: Possessive of a word that is already possessive – herisson Apr 08 '16 at 19:43
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    My bad, if you look closely, I include the apostrophe in the double quotes to mean "already has an apostrophe-s in it" but I should change it since it's hard to read – StanMarsh Apr 08 '16 at 19:54

1 Answers1

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Technically it could be McDonald's' or McDonald's's because "McDonald's" functions as a singular noun. However, most style guides (and common sense, IMO) suggest you avoid it altogether by rephrasing the sentence:

The Market Street McDonald's has friendly employees.

The employees at Market Street McDonald's are friendly.

McDonald's happens to be a common example used to illustrate it:

Excerpt from The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style

Grammarphobia blog post

Another example on quickanddirtytips.com

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