This is a summary of ways in which (varieties of) English have come to have a separable (or arguably separable) final element -S (pronounced variously as /s z əz/ and spelled variously as S ES ’S), not always with clear semantic content. I’m posting it here for reference in postings to come and as a demonstration of how phonological/orthographic content, like -S, is “just stuff”, with no unified semantic, pragmatic, sociolinguistic, or stylistic value common to all of its occurrences.
This is just an outline, with a few passing comments on some details, though most details (like those concerning alternation or variation between -S and zero) are not covered here; it’s a very complex world.
