46

When using biblatex I often use \textcite. Sometimes I want to write things like "Smith's (2000) formulation of x is" instead of "Smith (2000) formulates x as". How do I achieve this? Or more generally, how do I make the author's name output by \textcite to be in the possessive case? I'm mainly looking for an English variant. This means that I want \textcite to be able to add "'s" to the author's name, e.g. to output

Knuth's (1984)

instead of

Knuth (1984)

Ideally I want a solution to be able to put any author's or authors' name in the possessive case and for it to be able to cope with other languages than English.

The following example might clarify what I'm asking for:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[style=authoryear-comp]{biblatex}


\usepackage{filecontents}


\begin{filecontents}{database.bib}
@book{texbook,
    author  = {Donald E. Knuth},
    title   = {The {{\TeX}book}},
    publisher   = {Addison-Wesley},
    date    = {1984}
    }
\end{filecontents}


\bibliography{database.bib}


\begin{document}


\textcite{texbook}% Standard use. Output: "Knuth (1984)"


\textcite{texbook}'s% Failed try to get output in the possesive case. Output: "Knuth (1984)'s"


Knuth's (1984)% The ouput that I want


\end{document}
Vincent Krebs
  • 591
N.N.
  • 36,163

5 Answers5

37

This answer extends Philipp Lehman's method for generating a possessive labelname using a format alias. It should work for all variants of the standard author-year styles.

Note that the solution is bad for plural labelnames, where the possessive is formed with just ' and not 's. This case is probably very rare, though. Other languages may not be as easy to handle. For an example refer to a previous question, which considers Norwegian possessives.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[style=authoryear-comp]{biblatex}
\usepackage{filecontents}

\DeclareNameFormat{labelname:poss}{% Based on labelname from biblatex.def
  \ifcase\value{uniquename}%
    \usebibmacro{name:last}{#1}{#3}{#5}{#7}%
  \or
    \ifuseprefix
      {\usebibmacro{name:first-last}{#1}{#4}{#5}{#8}}
      {\usebibmacro{name:first-last}{#1}{#4}{#6}{#8}}%
  \or
    \usebibmacro{name:first-last}{#1}{#3}{#5}{#7}%
  \fi
  \usebibmacro{name:andothers}%
  \ifnumequal{\value{listcount}}{\value{liststop}}{'s}{}}

\DeclareFieldFormat{shorthand:poss}{%
  \ifnameundef{labelname}{#1's}{#1}}

\DeclareFieldFormat{citetitle:poss}{\mkbibemph{#1}'s}

\DeclareFieldFormat{label:poss}{#1's}

\newrobustcmd*{\posscitealias}{%
  \AtNextCite{%
    \DeclareNameAlias{labelname}{labelname:poss}%
    \DeclareFieldAlias{shorthand}{shorthand:poss}%
    \DeclareFieldAlias{citetitle}{citetitle:poss}%
    \DeclareFieldAlias{label}{label:poss}}}

\newrobustcmd*{\posscite}{%
  \posscitealias%
  \textcite}

\newrobustcmd*{\Posscite}{\bibsentence\posscite}

\newrobustcmd*{\posscites}{%
  \posscitealias%
  \textcites}

\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@Article{bertram:sa,
  author = {Bertram, Aaron and Wentworth, Richard},
  shortauthor = {BW},
  title = {Gromov invariants for holomorphic maps on Riemann surfaces},
  journaltitle = {J.~Amer. Math. Soc.},
  volume = {9},
  number = {2},
  date = {1996},
  pages = {529--571}}
@Book{title,
  title = {A Book with No Author},
  date = {1933}}
@Book{shorthand,
  title = {A Book with No Author},
  shorthand = {ABWNA},
  date = {1933}}
@Book{label,
  label = {Fallback label},
  date = {1933}}
@Book{does,
  title = {A Book by the Does},
  author = {Doe, John and Doe, Jane},
  shortauthor = {{The Does}},
  date = {1990}}
\end{filecontents}

\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}
\bibliography{biblatex-examples}

\renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{1.25}

\begin{document}
\subsection*{cite with labelname}
posscite many authors: \posscite[3036]{aksin} \\
textcite shortauthor: \textcite[e.g.][3]{bertram:sa} \\
posscite shortauthor: \posscite[e.g.][4]{bertram:sa} \\
textcite shorthand: \textcite{kant:ku} \\
posscite shorthand: \posscite{kant:ku} \\
textcite compact: \textcite{aristotle:physics,aristotle:poetics} \\
posscite compact: \posscite{aristotle:physics,aristotle:poetics} \\
textcites: \textcites[3036]{aksin}[529]{bertram:sa} \\
posscites: \posscites[3036]{aksin}[529]{bertram:sa} \\
posscite with plural labelname (where this solution is bad): \posscite{does}
\subsection*{cite without labelname}
textcite shorthand: \textcite{shorthand} \\
posscite shorthand: \posscite{shorthand} \\
textcite title: \textcite{title} \\
posscite title: \posscite{title} \\
textcite label: \textcite{label} \\
posscite label: \posscite{label} \\
\end{document}

enter image description here

David Carlisle
  • 757,742
Audrey
  • 28,881
  • 4
    Great. I really appreciate that your solution seems to handle prenote and postnote just like any other biblatex cite command. Maybe someone should post this answer to the biblatex author so that possessive cites may be considered for implementation. I was worried that this question was too similar to the related question domwass posted but when a solution like this surfaces it seems to be a justified question. – N.N. Jul 05 '11 at 07:57
  • 2
    @N.N. The solution relies on \DeclareCiteCommand to do all the work. Prenotes would appear within the parentheses as they do with \textcite. If you want the prenote to appear before the labelname/label, similar edits could be applied to the commands in authoryear-comp.cbx that define \cite. Possessive citations would be a nice feature to have, but a language-specific implementation would be a tall order. – Audrey Jul 05 '11 at 13:33
  • You're wrong about plural label names. Both Strunk & White and the Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed., 7.17) say the possessive of The Does is The Does's. – user14774 Feb 24 '15 at 04:30
  • @user14774 There is no wrong or right for exceptions to the general rule of adding 's. Read further in CMS (e.g. section 7.19). – Audrey May 14 '15 at 18:43
  • This is nice, though it unfortunately permits the line to be broken between the author name and year. The usual solution to this problem, \xpatchbibmacro{textcite}{\addspace}{\addnbspace}{}{}, doesn't seem to work. Can anyone suggest how @Audrey's \posscite can be adapted so that it uses a nonbreaking space between the 's and the year? – Psychonaut Oct 27 '15 at 13:20
  • 1
    @Psychonaut The possessive citation isn't the problem. That solution was intended for the numeric styles. Under author-year the texcite bibliography macro has more than one instance of \addspace, so it will have to be patched twice. – Audrey Oct 28 '15 at 03:10
  • 2
    Thanks, Audrey. However, it seems your original answer no longer works at all now, at least in Biblatex 3.3, due to a recent change to the format of \DeclareNameFormat. Perhaps you might consider revising your solution? – Psychonaut Apr 01 '16 at 13:47
  • I got also hit by the Biblatex 3.3 changes. I'm a little bit lost on how to adapt this valuable piece of code. – hetsch Apr 10 '16 at 09:29
  • 3
    I have adapted Audrey's code for Biblatex 3.3 and 3.4 and posted it as a separate answer to this question. – Psychonaut May 02 '16 at 14:44
  • Is there a way to show the page number with posscite? For example, "Smith's (1954, p. 35) procedure ..." – Pertinax Apr 04 '23 at 13:27
18

You could always define a "possessive cite" command yourself as follows:

\newcommand\posscite[1]{\citeauthor{#1}'s (\citeyear{#1})}

Although I can't promise it would look pretty or work properly for multiple author works...

Of course, properly speaking what you should do is use biblatex's own \DeclarCiteCommand and friends interface (and replace the parentheses with the right macro so that if you change the type of parens used, they change too...)

Seamus
  • 73,242
  • Ad for other languages, I guess you could patch into those parts of babel or polyglossia that deal with possessives? But as a near-monoglot I have no experience of those packages... – Seamus Jul 04 '11 at 13:22
  • Indeed, I'm curious how this will work for multiple authors. I'm not even sure how multiple authors are written in the possessive case in English or how the possessive case is handled when the author's names are shortened with "et al.". – N.N. Jul 04 '11 at 13:25
  • 6
    @N.N. A quick look at Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.) suggests that it should be "Foo and Bar's (1999) work" for example. Can't find comments on what to do with et al... – Seamus Jul 04 '11 at 13:33
  • I like your solution, but when I use it, the hyperlink from the citation to the bibliography is missing. Do you know how to get the hyperlink back? – Unicorn Sep 14 '18 at 23:06
  • @Seamus thanks. I compile the above latex. However, it does not do cross-referencing. Especially on author1, but it does on (year). – aan Aug 20 '19 at 22:46
  • This works for single author works, but not if the last name has two parts (e.g. "van Pelt"). What would you do then? – Pertinax Apr 25 '23 at 03:24
13

A previous answer by Audrey provides a possessive citation command that works with older versions of Biblatex. However, this code does not work in Biblatex 3.3 due to a change to the format of \DeclareNameFormat.

The following adaptation of Audrey's code (to which I am grateful to PLK for a slight correction) should work with Biblatex 3.3. According to PLK, the \nameparts line isn't needed if you're using Biblatex 3.4. (I'm not sure whether leaving it in will cause any problems.)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[style=authoryear-comp]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{biblatex-examples.bib}

\DeclareNameFormat{labelname:poss}{% Based on labelname from biblatex.def
  \nameparts{#1}% Not needed if using Biblatex 3.4
  \ifcase\value{uniquename}%
    \usebibmacro{name:family}{\namepartfamily}{\namepartgiven}{\namepartprefix}{\namepartsuffix}%
  \or
    \ifuseprefix
      {\usebibmacro{name:first-last}{\namepartfamily}{\namepartgiveni}{\namepartprefix}{\namepartsuffixi}}
      {\usebibmacro{name:first-last}{\namepartfamily}{\namepartgiveni}{\namepartprefixi}{\namepartsuffixi}}%
  \or
    \usebibmacro{name:first-last}{\namepartfamily}{\namepartgiven}{\namepartprefix}{\namepartsuffix}%
  \fi
  \usebibmacro{name:andothers}%
  \ifnumequal{\value{listcount}}{\value{liststop}}{'s}{}}
\DeclareFieldFormat{shorthand:poss}{%
  \ifnameundef{labelname}{#1's}{#1}}
\DeclareFieldFormat{citetitle:poss}{\mkbibemph{#1}'s}
\DeclareFieldFormat{label:poss}{#1's}
\newrobustcmd*{\posscitealias}{%
  \AtNextCite{%
    \DeclareNameAlias{labelname}{labelname:poss}%
    \DeclareFieldAlias{shorthand}{shorthand:poss}%
    \DeclareFieldAlias{citetitle}{citetitle:poss}%
    \DeclareFieldAlias{label}{label:poss}}}
\newrobustcmd*{\posscite}{%
  \posscitealias%
  \textcite}
\newrobustcmd*{\Posscite}{\bibsentence\posscite}
\newrobustcmd*{\posscites}{%
  \posscitealias%
  \textcites}
Community
  • 1
Psychonaut
  • 3,142
6

With the new name wrapper format introduced in biblatex v3.12 (2018-10-30), Audrey's answer can be simplified quite a bit. We no longer need to redefine the whole labelname name format, we just append 's with the name wrapper.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[style=authoryear-comp]{biblatex}

\DeclareNameWrapperFormat{labelname:poss}{#1's}


\DeclareFieldFormat{shorthand:poss}{%
  \ifnameundef{labelname}{#1's}{#1}}


\DeclareFieldFormat{citetitle:poss}{\mkbibemph{#1}'s}


\DeclareFieldFormat{label:poss}{#1's}


\newrobustcmd*{\posscitealias}{%
  \AtNextCite{%
    \DeclareNameWrapperAlias{labelname}{labelname:poss}%
    \DeclareFieldAlias{shorthand}{shorthand:poss}%
    \DeclareFieldAlias{citetitle}{citetitle:poss}%
    \DeclareFieldAlias{label}{label:poss}}}


\newrobustcmd*{\posscite}{%
  \posscitealias%
  \textcite}


\newrobustcmd*{\Posscite}{\bibsentence\posscite}


\newrobustcmd*{\posscites}{%
  \posscitealias%
  \textcites}


\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@article{bertram:sa,
  author       = {Bertram, Aaron and Wentworth, Richard},
  shortauthor  = {BW},
  title        = {Gromov invariants for holomorphic maps on Riemann surfaces},
  journaltitle = {J.~Amer. Math. Soc.},
  volume       = {9},
  number       = {2},
  date         = {1996},
  pages        = {529--571},
}
@book{title,
  title = {A Book with No Author},
  date  = {1993},
}
@book{shorthand,
  title     = {A Book with No Author},
  shorthand = {ABWNA},
  date      = {1993},
}
@book{label,
  label = {Fallback label},
  date  = {1993},
}
@book{does,
  title       = {A Book by the Does},
  author      = {Doe, John and Doe, Jane},
  shortauthor = {{The Does}},
  date        = {1990},
}
\end{filecontents}
\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}
\bibliography{biblatex-examples}


\renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{1.25}


\begin{document}
\subsection*{cite with labelname}
posscite many authors: \posscite[3036]{aksin}


textcite shortauthor: \textcite[e.g.][3]{bertram:sa}


posscite shortauthor: \posscite[e.g.][4]{bertram:sa}


textcite shorthand: \textcite{kant:ku}


posscite shorthand: \posscite{kant:ku}


textcite compact: \textcite{aristotle:physics,aristotle:poetics}


posscite compact: \posscite{aristotle:physics,aristotle:poetics}


textcites: \textcites[3036]{aksin}[529]{bertram:sa}


posscites: \posscites[3036]{aksin}[529]{bertram:sa}


posscite with plural labelname (where this solution is bad): \posscite{does}


\subsection*{cite without labelname}
textcite shorthand: \textcite{shorthand}


posscite shorthand: \posscite{shorthand}


textcite title: \textcite{title}


posscite title: \posscite{title}


textcite label: \textcite{label}


posscite label: \posscite{label}
\end{document}

cite with labelname//posscite many authors: Aksın et al.’s (2006, p. 3036)//textcite shortauthor: BW (e.g. 1996, p. 3)//posscite shortauthor: BW’s (e.g. 1996, p. 4)//textcite shorthand: Kant (KU)//posscite shorthand: Kant’s (KU)//textcite compact: Aristotle (1929, 1968)//posscite compact: Aristotle’s (1929, 1968)//textcites: Aksın et al. (2006, p. 3036) and BW (1996, p. 529)//posscites: Aksın et al.’s (2006, p. 3036) and BW’s (1996, p. 529)//posscite with plural labelname (where this solution is bad): The Does’s//(1990)//cite without labelname//textcite shorthand: ABWNA//posscite shorthand: ABWNA’s//textcite title: A Book with No Author (1993)//posscite title: A Book with No Author’s (1993)//textcite label: Fallback label (1993)//posscite label: Fallback label’s (1993)

moewe
  • 175,683
0

As a complement, here are the lines to add for a no-parentheses variant of \posscite (which is actually a possessive variant of \cite instead of \textcite).

            % Possessive Cite (no parentheses) \posscitenopar

\newrobustcmd*{\posscitenopar}{%
    \posscitealias%
    \cite}

\newrobustcmd*{\Posscitenopar}{\bibsentence\posscite}

\newrobustcmd*{\posscitesnopar}{%
    \posscitealias%
    \cites}
Vincent Krebs
  • 591