Search results for 'tag:Plurals tag:Possessives' matching tags 'Plurals' and 'Possessives'

Re: teachers' ,Hans' , Strauss' ,boys' etc.

Feebs11 — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:21:34 GMT

Teachers'/students' [plural possessives] are pronounced only as -z

Hans's/Strauss's are -siz.

There is disagreement and discussion as to whether " 's " is used with words/names ending in "s". In my opinion they should, since the abbreviation represents archaic "Hans his xxxx".

Re: a genitive of classification?

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:46:42 GMT

I believe that the response provided to you is incorrect. A "girls school" and a "girls' school" is not the same. In the first instance, "girls" is used as an adjective to describe that the school only has female students; in the second, it is a possessive use of an apostrophe. The second would be used maybe in such an example as follows:

Woman 1: I just started my new job. I'm working at that new school downtown.
Woman 2: Oh really, that is my girls' school! (implying, that's is where my girls attend school).

Adjectival plurals take an "s" only to clarify syntax.

Re: Â«...clean grimy hands...Â»

Ant_222 — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:52:23 GMT

MissMandy
...a tells the listener that we are being generic. If you wanted him to wash his own weary face, you'd need a possessive determiner (your)

Hmmm. I thought that a + singular countable noun was the same as zero article + plural countable noun.

Why wouldn't the hobbits look around for other(s)' grimy hands and not their ones? In the original sentence, "hands" doesn't have a determiner either... Having re-reading GG's explanation and trying to unite it with yours, I am starting to think that that might be the case...

Anton

Re: Â«...clean grimy hands...Â»

MissMandy — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:30:41 GMT

Haha, you gave me a funny picture in my head. If you told Paul to wash a weary face, he would probably be looking around for someone else's weary face to wash because you can't tell him to wash his own face that way; a tells the listener that we are being generic. If you wanted him to wash his own weary face, you'd need a possessive determiner (your). So, yes, you seem correct.

When thinking about determiners (articles are a category of determiners), you always need to decide if the noun is count or non-count, and if it is count, if it is plural or singular as well as if it is generic of specific. With non-count nouns you need to decide if the noun is specific or generic. Once all of that has been decided, you still have lots of choices.(Go to Wikipedia's "Determiners" page to see the long list.)

If you want, send me an email and I'll send you a PDF graphic that I give to all my grammar students. Determiners are tiny, but powerful and confusing, little words. I'll send the file to anyone who wants it. Just send me your email.

~Miss Mandy

Re: all adjective questions

Avangi — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 04:24:15 GMT

1. These are always a little uncomfortable for me. I think it's okay, but I'd probably repeat the "a," a spiritual and a literal interpretation, OR a spiritual vs. a literal interpretation, OR spiritual and literal interpretations

2. The duties are the same whether it's the EO, a typical EO, or all EO's in some large organization. In my opinion, you may choose singular or plural as it fits the situation. If there's only one such position, and it's duties are unique, it would seem strange to use the plural, unless there's a high rate of turnover, and you wish to stress that these rules will apply to all successors. (You might even choose to add the possessive, as these are his duties.)

3. Sorry, no tips. I don't think the adjectival function would necessarily exempt it from the hyphen, as long as both words are modifying a noun which follows. Otherwise, you'd say, "The task is long finished." (It still modifies the same noun, but I shouldn't think the hyphen would fit.)

Best not take my word on this, as there are probably ESL rules.

- A.

Re: Possessive plural form of "business"

Grammar Geek — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:46:25 GMT

One boy's bike. Two boys' bikes.

One dog's bowl. Two dogs' bowls.

One business's plan. Two businesses' plans.

Not businesses as a plural possessive, not businesses's as a plural possessive.

Re: Using an apostrophe

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:16:56 GMT

Possessive Use

If you are using a singular noun to indicate possession, use an apostrophe before the "s."
If you are using a plural noun, use an apostrophe after the "s."

Instead of: Both neighbors dogs barked all night long.
Consider: Both neighbors' dogs barked all night long.

Instead of: Ice hockey is Toms favorite sport.
Consider: Ice hockey is Tom's favorite sport.

(NOUN MEANS - PERSON, PLACE, THING, OR IDEA) - meaining that you would use an apostrophy for non-living things as well...

THIS IS BY WAY OF MICROSOFT WORD..HOPE THIS HELPS

Re: Plural for Curriculum Vitae

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:55:33 GMT

I quite agree with Curricula Vitae (being plural) as it is based on the use of a Latin phrase. A possible alternative is "Work History" as we speak English (not Latin) or resume (as point out by another poster).

Also, if you see CV's this is wrong according to contemporary (Australian) use as the apostrophe denotes possessive. Some would argue that the apostrophe is actually correct as it indicates an abbreviation, this was the case in the 70s and 80s (then we used to write 70's and 80's denoting abbreviation), but not in the 2000s.

David, Sydney (Technical Editor)

Re: nations' efforts or nations efforts

wholegrain — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:52:42 GMT

NO, THERE IS!

Muhahahahahahaha!

Proof:

Noun adjuncts were traditionally mostly singular (e.g. "trouser press") except when there were lexical restrictions (e.g. "arms race"), but there is a recent trend towards more use of plural ones, especially in UK English. Many of these can also be and/or were originally interpreted and spelled as plural possessives (for example "chemicals' agency", "writers' conference", "Rangers' hockey game")[2], but they are now often written without the apostrophe although this is criticised by some authorities.

POSSESSIVE?

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:39:37 GMT

Hi,
I am confused as to when you would use what I would call a "proper name" form and when use what I would call a "plural" form.

If you have any inquiries regarding Teacher's/Veteran's benefits, please inquire within.

If you happen to write a sentence using the words 'teacher' and 'veteran', I think it would go like this.

A teacher is someone who teaches. A veteran is someone who served for the country they are in.

And the article would serve to refer to all teachers and veterans, but make what looks like a proper noun and have it serve that purpose?
I think some people equate 'belong to' to 'possessed by'? Do those two terms similar or alike as the case might be?