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The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2012-02-03 01:54:10 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)
English to English translations [Non-PRO] Other
English term or phrase:'s
Tokyo School of Arts (present Tokyo University of Arts)` Prof. xxx
Explanation: It's a clumsy way to put it, and the plural possessive ' after Arts makes it refer to that, whereas you want it to refer to School, in which case it should be School's. But this is still awkward, particularly with the new name in brackets after the old one. Better to say:
"Prof. xxx of the Tokyo School of Arts (now the Tokyo University of Arts)."
Maybe School/University of the Arts, best to call it whatever it calls itself in English.
Thank you very much.
I changed the sentence according to your proposal.
But, I saw The Guardian uses London University's Professor. 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
It is as follows:
Another founding father, London University's Professor Brian Groombridge, told delegates there are five key dates in the process of making educational opportunity democratic: 1903 saw the founding of the Workers Educational Association and 1922 the founding of the BBC. Next came the 1944 Education Act. Then there was the Open University in 1969 and the U3A in 1982.
Haadlines in newspapers and magazines are contracted as far as is possible without any attention to style and not much to grammar, to make them as brief as possible with the aim of leaving more room for the story. So don't rely on 'Guardian' headlines as a guide!
Sometimes, a construction that is technically gramatically correct can still be awkward and undesirable stylistically. This is definitely one of those cases and there is nothing to do but accept it.
...that's really not the issue here; there are 2 key points, already highlighted and discussed at length
1) It is confusing to add the possessive 's to 'Arts', as it makes this seem as if it is the subject, whereas it is in fact not
2) It is debatable whether it is appropriate to use such a possessive form with the particular construction and subjects you have here.
In addition, the cumbersomeness of the two compound nouns in your sentence makes it very awkward to use an 's in the first place.
And last but not least, if you DID want to use it, it should not be placed after the closing brackets as you have done; this then returns us to the overall problem, where DO you put it? In point of fact, if one REALLy wanted to use an 's, I personally would put it on the first of the two compound nouns:
"Tokyo School of Arts's (now Tokyo University of Arts) Prof. xxx"
But you see why all these issues add up to make it inelegant and unwieldy, and I really cnanot see ANY reason for using 's here when there are other perfectly good alternatives.
Of course, as ever, it would have been immensely helpful if you'd given us the whole sentence, and explained why you want to use the 's form?
Note that for names that end in "s," such as Jones, it is considered correct to use, "Jones'" or "Jones's" to express possession. Apostrophes are also sometimes used as part of numbers and abbreviations, such as DVD's or 1970's, but many people frown upon this use, and omit the apostrophe in these cases, which is preferable in modern writing.
Like I said, this is simply a question of stylistic preference, and there is no hard-and-fast 'rule' (that I'm aware of); in this case, one might consider Harvard College as having the status of some kind of 'entity' — but what is more relevant is that the possessed object is an inanimate object, and hence it does not sit so awkwardly as an inanimate object possessing an animate one!
One can of course say things like "London's traffic jams are legendary"
But in your case, as Jack has highlighted, the overriding consideration is really the unwieldiness of your 2 compound nouns, + the issue with the singular possessive for School / Uni looking like it is a in fact a plural possessive for Arts, which would create an ambiguity. And good style in EN usually aims for the solution which will be precise and unambiguous.
Harvard College's Computer Science 50: Introduction to Computer Science
In this case is College not an inanimate object?
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Answers
8 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +2
Prof. xxx of the Tokyo School of (Fine) Arts
Explanation: not quite sure what you are asking but this is how I would phrase it.
Prof. xxx of the Tokyo School of (Fine) Arts (present day Tokyo University of the Arts)
Maria Fokin Italy Local time: 04:08 Native speaker of: English, Russian PRO pts in category: 4
11 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +2
No
Explanation: Basically, I consider it poor style to use the possessive 's for inanimate objects and organizations, etc., and even more so when the object possessed is a person! "John's wife" is OK, but in your case, I would definitely say "Prof. XXX from the T.S.A. (currently T.U.A.)"
The aforesaid goes doubly so in your case, where you have a complicated structure of two different compound nous to which to apply the possessive.
Also, why do you say 'present' — was T.S.A. the earlier name, when Prof. was there? If so, I would word it differently, as "Prof. XXX from the Tokyo University of Arts (formerly [or: the then] Tokyo School of Arts)"
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 12 minutes (2012-01-30 09:56:12 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
or (at that time / in his day called the T.S.A.)
Tony M France Local time: 04:08 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 92
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +2
