I have always known that after an indefinite pronoun, namely "everyone," "somebody" etc, the correct possessive pronoun to be used is "their." E.g.: Everyone should always do their best. However, the "Canadian

Michael, welcome! You have posed a knotty question! Here are some thoughts. When I have trouble with possessives, I think of the equivalent "of" construction. In this case, I think you mean: the needs of (each of our patients)... The

Because then we'd have to accept that "Queen" in "The Queen of England" is a "separate form" from "Queen" in "The Queen of England's". Or else that the separate form is

Right. Or, more precisely, "the Queen's knickers of England". Hohoho. Does not the "clitic" indicate a possessive "form" for the noun as much as for the noun phrase? It can be argued that it indicates that the

The case system for nouns and pronouns, grafted onto English despite the lack of any separate forms for nouns but the possessive, You can get rid of the "but the possessive". English has a clitic that attaches to the end of the noun

You can get rid of the "but the possessive". English ... the noun. The only possessive morphology is in the pronouns. The Queen's knickers and the Queen of England's knickers again, eh? Right. Or, more precisely, "the

The case system for nouns and pronouns, grafted onto English despite the lack of any separate forms for nouns but the possessive, You can get rid of the "but the possessive". English has a clitic that attaches to the end of the noun

The case system for nouns and pronouns, grafted onto English despite the lack of any separate forms for nouns but the possessive, You can get rid of the "but the possessive". Thank you kindly, sir. (separate point:) I almost said

The case system for nouns and pronouns, grafted onto English despite the lack of any separate forms for nouns but the possessive, You can get rid of the "but the possessive". English has a clitic that attaches to the end of the noun

An Tue, 27 Jan 2004 07:50:29 +0800, sgrìobh Robert Bannister (Email Removed): I don't know other IE languages that can have a prep. + infin. - maybe the Scandinavian languages and other Romance ones. Perhaps speakers of those could indicate