I have seen titles, such as books or business names, that omit the apostrophe. Is this proper? Can a title be apostrophe free if the author chooses? EX: Tom and Sallies Big Adventure. Should Sallies properly be Sallie's? Or Sallies'?
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Yes, it's fine. There is nothing informal about an apostrophe s. And the name Sally is with a y. Usually. – Lambie Oct 06 '18 at 22:56
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Good catch by Lambie. We do not replace -y endings with -ies for possessives. Some people are called Sallie however. – Michael Harvey Oct 06 '18 at 23:11
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Please edit the question to clarify if you're specifically asking about possessive noun forms used in titles. It seems you are, but since you didn't say, I can't be sure. – R Mac Oct 07 '18 at 02:07
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Authors can do whatever they want; whether publishers will allow them is another story. – Arm the good guys in America Oct 07 '18 at 03:08
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On the other hand, books and business names can be anything you like, whether or not grammatical or meaningful.
GEdgar
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Apostrophes should be used in titles as in body text. To omit an apostrophe can change the meaning of the words.
There may have been some historical scenarios in which they’ve been omitted for technical reasons (e.g. apostrophes in filenames used to cause issues, though I can’t think of any good reason why they’d be omitted in printed headings or titles.
Dan W
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I've read, somewhere in the dim and distant past, that it is accepted practice to disregard the apostrophe for headings, subheadings and names of events which are capitalised. e.g. I recently received a missive from my child's school, which included the title: Parent's Evening (implying that the evening was for the sole use of 1 parent) Parents' Evening would be more correct, but omitting the apostrophe (for the title/heading) i.e. Parents Evening - is acceptable. Obviously, an apostrophe is needed if it's used in the body of a text e.g. Next week's parents' evening will be held online.
Simon
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1This is the 'associative v true possessive' apostrophe debate, whereas OP asks about ditching apostrophes totally in titles. Covered at Is it correct to say "I write children books" {not possessive}. "I write childrens books" and certainly "writers guilds" and "working mens clubs" are seen nowadays, the latter the idiomatic choice. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 06 '21 at 13:47
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This does not provide an answer to the question. Once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post; instead, provide answers that don't require clarification from the asker. - From Review – jimm101 Oct 06 '21 at 14:29