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Without recasting the following sentence, is the possessive of the quoted song title correctly punctuated as exampled? I am aware that it can be reworded to avoid the problem, but I wanted to know whether 'punctuation-wise' this is correct. Song titles receive quotes; album titles are italicized.

“Hey Jude” ’s popularity reached unprecedented heights in 1968.

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  • Though seems like off-topic, this is a good question. However, I'm quite sure no canonical answer exists.
    – Kris
    Apr 6, 2013 at 12:40
  • As we can't even agree on a canon listing a rule for 'wordness', there seems little likelihood that we'll agree on punctuation and grammar. I bet we can't even agree on who 'we' might be.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Apr 6, 2013 at 16:50
  • Does this answer your question? Quoted Possessives Ending in "s"
    – Greybeard
    Aug 1, 2020 at 14:45

2 Answers 2

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Song titles can be italicised, and that would make this far less awkward.

Hey Jude’s popularity reached unprecedented heights in 1968.

Better still to reword it to avoid the possessive altogether, though.

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  • No style guide shows that individual song titles can be italicized—only album titles can be.
    – whippoorwill
    Apr 6, 2013 at 12:31
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    A style guide is simply opinion bound into a book. There is nothing stopping song titles being set in italics.
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Apr 6, 2013 at 12:34
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    Both options have been ruled out in advanced by the OP.
    – Kris
    Apr 6, 2013 at 12:38
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    At stlcc.edu/Student_Resources/Academic_Resources/… are the instructions: TITLES/NAMES TO BE PUT IN ITALICS: Books: To Kill a Mockingbird ... Long Poems: The Odyssey ... Operas/Musical Pieces ... Rhapsody in Blue ... TITLES/NAMES TO BE PUT IN QUOTATION MARKS: ... Short Stories “Why I Live at the P.O.” ... Songs “Can’t Buy Me Love” ... Who decides when a story gets beyond short status, or a poem becomes long, or when a song isn't a 'musical piece'? This all smacks of arbitrarily enforced pseudorules.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Apr 6, 2013 at 12:51
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    Quite. Song titles can be italicised, and often are. If this is a coursework exercise, then it's necessary to follow the rules set for that coursework and it's pointless asking here.
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Apr 6, 2013 at 12:57
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It looks funny, but I believe that's correct. Putting the possessive inside the quotes is the only alternative, and that would be wrong.

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