Template talk:USCongDistStateIL

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USCongDistStateIL is part of WikiProject U.S. Congress, an attempt to build a comprehensive guide to the United States Congress. You can help by editing this article. This template adds articles to Category:WikiProject U.S. Congress articles.

	This article is part of WikiProject Illinois, a WikiProject related to the U.S. state of Illinois.
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[edit] Spelling

There are some discussions about which spelling is correct (just apostrophe, or apostrophe S) at Template talk:USCongDistStateList, since navboxes prefer to link directly to the article rather than through redirects, so the bold feature works for them. --Interiot 17:21, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Okay, this is the third time they've been moved between Illinois' and Illinois's. [1] [2] [3] Can we settle this sooner or later? If both forms are acceptable, then we simply need to stop changing them. If one is obviously more preferable, then let's decide this, here. If it ends up that Illinios' is preferable, then we need to figure out a way to change this template so it doesn't link to the redirects.

I'm not a language expert. Random people on IRC just now who claimed to be a language expert gave mixed answers. I've found general language advice that both seem to be generally acceptable.

The best evidence I've found is that house.gov uses "Illinois' Xth district" almost exclusively. (Illinois's gets 2 ghits. Illinois' gets... well, not all include the apostrophe, but there's clearly quite a few more than 2 that use apostrophes. On the other hand, many don't use apostrophe at all). On the other hand, Illinois's IS used a fair bit generally. [4] --Interiot 02:05, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Also, the state's official site appears to use Illinois' exclusively; one way around all this would be to create a separate set of templates (such as Template:USCongDistState2 and Template:Ushr-s; Template:Ushr2 is already taken) for use with Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts and Texas, though this would take a little effort and awareness. I think the issue is the redirect more than the grammar - if new templates were created (or someone with more expertise than I have were to tweak the existing ones somehow to allow for variations), I doubt anyone would complain about Illinois' in the absence of redirects. MisfitToys 19:50, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

• I prefer Illinois's. For two reasons: 1) It keeps our coded templates simplified. I could make a change to {{ushr}} to account for certain states that use s', but it would be even more convoluted than it is now. 2) This grammar rule I like: The singular possessive (at least when written) takes 's regardless of the terminal consanant sound. Although I insist that there are no grammar laws— anyone can say/write whatever he/she pleases and there is no official board to determine correct grammar— I prefer the notion of simplicity whenever possible. Does "Rogers' house'" mean both Mr. & Mrs. Roger own the house or is this the house of Mr. Rogers? Of course, there really is only one possible Illinois here, but like I said, I like to keep this rule simple. One writes " Foo's " for singular possessive and " Foos' " for plural possessive.—Markles 20:37, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Illinois, Illinois' or Illinois's

Seems like there is still some conflict between the articles. What about 4th congressional district of Illinois instead of Illinois' 4th congressional district? That dodges the issue plus Illinois's looks like the proper possessive vs. Illinois'. See also http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/possessives.htm Dual Freq 19:03, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 27th District

I'm revising the template, as there was never a 27th District (the 27th representative from 1913 to 1943 was always elected on an at-large basis). The page for Illinois' At-large district is currently a redirect to the article for the pre-1818 territorial repreentative; that should be changed as well. MisfitToys 23:00, 21 March 2007 (UTC)