[title]Family quotes[/title] [description]Welcome to our family quotes section! Here you'll find some of the funniest (and wisest) quotes on the subject of family life![/description]
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Possesive (' or 's)

General English Grammar & Vocabulary,... » ESL General English Grammar Questions

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Latest post Fri, Nov 14 2003 2:59 PM by Guest. 4 replies.
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Guest  +  13002 Fri, 14 Nov 03 02:59 PM
when a name ends in s, such as Chris, how do you show possession? Chris' or Chris's? Please help. Thank you.

Guest
Raul  +  13013 Fri, 14 Nov 03 04:12 PM
The correct form is Chris's. The after the is only omitted when the noun is plural ending with . The should be kept in all the rest of the cases.

Hope this helps! Smile [:)]
Raul
Joined on Mon, Sep 1 2003
Lima - Peru
Full Member 221
"I touch the future: I teach"
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trellis  +  13023 Fri, 14 Nov 03 05:14 PM

Thanks Raul.
I was a bit confused about that one,
probably because I followed a bad example I saw somewhere.


So, is it: The three dogs' tails were wagging. ?

Or, if I said: The dogs' tails were wagging.

Should a reader know that more than one dog is being discussed?

The newspaper reader's thumbs were black from turning the pages. = one reader

The newspaper readers' thumbs were black from turning the pages. = more than one reader

Like that?

I can vaguely remember the long ago day when this was taught to me in English grammar class.
It almost seems that I recall a rule about proper names that end with an S.

Smith's car — Jones' car... but you said no,
so, I guess the memory is wrong.

trellis
Joined on Tue, Oct 21 2003
Full Member 397
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Raul  +  13029 Fri, 14 Nov 03 06:18 PM
In all of your examples, the reader will understand what you mean in number.

Focusing "newspaper reader's thumbs" versus "newspaper readers' thumbs", notice that when you generalize the plural form is preferred in this case (it's not only one reader but many).
Raul
trellis, 6 yr 14 days ago

Thank you.
I think I will learn a lot here.
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