S-form

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The s-form[1] is the British English phenomenon (predominantly in speech[2]) of suffixing the letter s to business names (especially to the names of supermarkets) where there is not one present in the orthographic representation. For example 'ASDA' could be converted to 'ASDAs' in speech, 'Tesco' to 'Tescos', etc.

[edit] Causes

Possible causes for use of the s-form include a third-person verb ending, contraction of 'is' or pluralisation but it is most likely that the s-form is an overgeneralisation of possessive suffixion in business names. [3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Woodward, 2004, Ch. 1
  2. ^ Woodward, 2004, Ch. 5.1
  3. ^ Woodward, 2004, Ch. 2.1.1

[edit] Sources