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

Re: 500âs B.C ...?

Mister Micawber — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 08:06:23 GMT

.
Some think the apostrophe is called for, but most grammarians believe it should be reserved for the possessive; 1960s and 1800s is a better choice. As for 500s BC, I find it an odd or at least unusual combination, and cannot think why the writer did not use 6th century BC.
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Re: possessive pronoun

Doll — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:48:23 GMT

Hello,

"the anger of" structure sounds strange to me but I can say that "the anger of my brother and mine" is correct.

He is a friend of mine.
He is a friend of David.
He is a friend of David's. As for these, "the ..of" structure gives you the meaning that something is possessed by someone or something so you shouldn't use an apostrophe " ' " again.

First and second one are correct. "My" becomes "mine" when it is used at the end of the sentence.

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.

Re: Proper Use of Apostrophes (Dos and Don'ts about Do's and Don't's)

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:32:00 GMT

According to the Gregg Reference Manual: "To form the possessive of a singular noun that ends in an s sound, be guided by the way you pronounce the word. If a new syllable is formed in the pronunciation of the possessive, add an apostrophe plus s."

Ex: your boss's approval (you pronounce it as bosses); therefore, add the apostrophe.

Also according to the Gregg Reference Manual: "However, if the addition of the extra syllable would make a word ending in s hard to pronounce, use the apostrophe only."

Ex: Los Angeles' freeways (try saying Los Angeleses). Difficult to do; therefore, just use the apostrophe.

Best grammar books are The Gregg Reference Manual and the Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers.

I have no problem with boss' approval. At least this is a rule where one can understand why people get it wrong. There are grammar errors that bother me more; I cannot understand why people misuse apostrophes.

Re: will accrue to...

Mr Wordy — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:34:15 GMT

The last ' is a closing quote mark, not a possessive apostrophe. "... will accrue to state elites" seems OK to me.

"... will accrue to state elites' hands" does not sound quite right to me. It's not usual for something to accrue to someone's hands. ("Fall into someone's hands", yes.) Your other two examples with "ours" and "son's" are, as you suspect, wrong.

Did you mean to highlight "China"? I can't quite see the significance of that in relation to your question. Apologies if I've misunderstood.

Re: the possessive of 'her'

Yoong Liat — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:28:55 GMT

Anonymous
It had been Thomas's and her's secret hiding place when they were children

It had been Thomas and her secret hiding place when they were children.

Since they hid in the same place, an apostrophe after Thomas is not necessary.

Re: the possessive of 'her'

CalifJim — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:24:48 GMT

Note where the apostrophes occur, and where they don't. The rows show the subject form, the object form, the possessive adjective form, and the possessive pronoun form, respectively.

I you he she we they it Kate the child the boys

me you him her us them it Kate the child the boys

my your his her our their its Kate's the child's the boys'

mine yours his hers ours theirs its Kate's the child's the boys'

Note that there is no her's.

the possessive of 'her'

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:35:48 GMT

Hello,

In the sentence, "It had been Thomas's and her's secret hiding place when they were children." Is the apostrophe after 'her' correct? It seems that it should be, but my MS Word Grammar check does not recognize it. Thank you for your great service.

Re: months' or months

Huevos — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:29:37 GMT

It's possessive so should have the apostrophe.

Re: possessive

Mr Wordy — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:16:49 GMT

Are you asking about forming a possessive by the addition of apostrope-s? If so, then here are some thoughts. I just wrote this stuff off the top of my head, so it's not meant to be any sort of definitive analysis.

There is no problem with making possessives from inanimate nouns. For example: the Earth's atmosphere; the computer's memory. However, as a very rough rule of thumb, it seems that nouns that refer to concrete objects are more likely to be made into possessives in this way, and nouns that refer to abstract concepts are less likely. For example, fright's, completeness's, congratulation's and disappearance's, while all theoretically possible I suppose, are unlikely. There is no hard-and-fast rule though. For example, hunger's pangs, jealousy's rage and Christianity's origins are all perfectly acceptable expressions that include the possessive form of an abstract noun. And there is one special expression that takes apostrophe-s words that would otherwise be unusual: for 's sake (expletive in this case not deleted!). For example, while comprehensibility's generally seems very unlikely, you could say for comprehensibility's sake. There may be other special cases that don't immediately come to mind.

When the apostrophe-s possessive of a noun seems unwieldy, a possessive can be formed with "of"; for example, the consequences of his disappearance rather than his disappearance's consequences.

I don't really understand what you mean by "Roman language". Perhaps you mean "Romance language" (i.e. a language derived from Latin)? I guess it's true that many longer abstract English nouns ultimately derive from Latin, and these are the ones that are, as a rough rule of thumb, less likely to have apostrophe-s forms. But there is no rule that says a word of a particular origin should or shouldn't form a possessive.

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

Re: 500âs B.C ...?

Re: possessive pronoun

Re: nations' efforts or nations efforts

Re: Proper Use of Apostrophes (Dos and Don'ts about Do's and Don't's)

Re: will accrue to...

Re: the possessive of 'her'

Re: the possessive of 'her'

the possessive of 'her'

Re: months' or months

Re: possessive

Re: 500âs B.C ...?