By Conversations, Possessives

CB, That's another interesting post of yours. Thanks!!! I have one question. Would you sound pretentious to say the following in everyday conversation?

Hi,But doesn't the use of a possessive adjective in these particular examples have the effect of emphasizing the negative quality perceived in the described person, object or situation... or am I imagining this? I realize the difference may be subtle... but if there is one, I'd like to...

English really needs another pronoun for cases like this! Traditionally, if the gender was unknown, the masculine pronoun would be used. In a grammar book from 50 years ago, your examples would most certainly use "his." Today this would still be considered grammatically correct, but...

Your instinct is right--the phrase refers to "last year's figure" but the word "figure" is understood and so dropped. So grammatically the spelling should be year's. However, it has become common especially in conversationto drop the 's, and that has slipped into...

SHALL AND WILL IT is unfortunate that the idiomatic use, while it comes by nature to southern Englishmen (who will find most of this section superfluous), is so complicated that those who are not to the manner born can hardly acquire it; and for them the section is in danger of being...

Kooyeen, If you want to know how that idea is expressed in real spoken American English, here's how: They are almost always reworded to avoid a possessive adjective (my, your, etc.) joined to another noun by and. Because of this, the 'problem' you pose is almost entirely...

b is correct. He isn't a good boy Here are the rules for contractions: Apostrophes with Verb Contractions Apostrophes generally show missing letters in contractions. In most formal writing such contractions should be avoided. The most common contractions involve verbs in five situations....

I guess you don't get out much, Anon. Here is a sampling of respectable online sources. Doing a bit of Google research yourself will turn up many, many more.The American Heritage Dictionary: Grammarians have sometimes objected to the so-called double genitive construction, as in a friend of my...

I agree as well, (I am the one who opened the spouse issue). A close friend (of the opposite sex) said to me that there is a difference between being possessive and being jealous/mad/resentful over a fling on the internet that gets... shall we say too personal. Not allowing someone to talk to...

"A Practical English Grammar" by Thomson and Martinet: As everyone/everybody takes a singular verb, the pronoun should be he/him, she/her with possessive adjectives his and her. But this is only found in formal English. In ordinary conversation the plural forms they/them and their are used...