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

Re: the teacher's developing cognizance of the child's intellectual activity

Avangi — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:38:46 GMT

I'm suffering from lack of the first part of the sentence. On first blush, one might take "teacher's" as a contraction instead of a possessive.

"Intellectual activity" means different things to different people. In a classroom of young children, it would probably mean "the child's learning processes," which could include the learning of social skills as well as the three R's. To a Special Ed teacher, working one-on-one, it could be cognitive processing. (Note that it's the teacher who's developing here, not the child.) To a college professor it might be intellectual acuity, or analytical insight.

- A.

Re: Mission control...

Philip — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:33:28 GMT

I assume that plant's is a contraction of plant is rather than the possessive. So, it means that the mission [goal of the task] is centered at the plant. NASA's "mission control" is somewhere in Texas, I believe.

Re: You and Who's

RayH — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:19:33 GMT

Why donât you have a medical check up ~~[checked up?]~~ with this doctor?

Why don't you visit to this doctor and have you checked up? This is wrong. If you want to use a similar sentence try, "Why don't you visit this doctor and have yourself checked out?"

While also I got confused in WHO'S AND WHOSE

1. I entered the beauty center with my mom [~~who's or~~ whose?] regular appointment was set on that day to meet the beautician.Whose is possessive; who's is the contraction of "who is"

Re: Help with apostrophe's

nona the brit — Mon, 19 May 2008 06:27:15 GMT

Rule One: Don't ever use apostrophes when you are making a plural. Apostrophe's in your title is incorrect.

Rule Two: Use apostrophes when you are making a possessive. Sometimes it goes before the s and sometimes after the s. You need to learn the rule and if you search this site you'll find plenty of help.

Rule Three: Use apostophes in contractions, such as in the word 'you'll' in my sentence above. You put the apostrophe in the place of the missing letters.

Re: Pizza's?

GrammarGuy — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:59:09 GMT

"Pizzas" is the plural: "We sell pizzas."

"Pizza's" is a possessive: "The pizza's topping was delicious."

"Pizza's" is also a contraction: "Pizza's my favorite food."

Re: Plurals of abbreviations - 1990's or 1990s

Anonymous — Fri, 02 May 2008 22:33:21 GMT

I think the p's and q's argument is most salient here. The apostrophe is used for the sake of clarity. While conventionally used for the possessive, the apostrophe is also used to indicate vernacular omissions and contractions, such as in the cases of "Ol' Dirty ***" or "N'awlins." This understadning of the usage of apostrophes is important for thinking about the 1990s/1990's problem. If you were to spell out the actual words 1990 and 1990s/1990's, you get the words "nineteen ninety" and "nineteen nineties." The difference between these two words is a "y" and an "ies." The possessive spelling of 1990's would be "nineteen ninety's," the plural, "nineteen nineties." The abbreviated representation of the possessive should clearly be 1990's, but what about the plural? One could argue that the apostrophe in this case stands for the omission of the "ie" in "nineteen nineties"

Please Check My Answers

Blondie024 — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:08:36 GMT

1. The possessive of a plural noun ending in s is formed by adding:

A. another s and an apostrophe. B. another s only. C. an apostrophe only. D. none of the above

I think the answer is C.

2. Which of the following shows the correct possessive form of a plural noun?

A. three dogs bowls B. three dog's bowls C. three dogs' bowls D. none of the above

I think the answer is C.

3. In a contraction, the apostrophe replaces:

A. missing letters. B. using an s. C. a unit of measurement. D. none of the above.

I think the answer is A.

4. Which of the following is a correct contraction of "they would"?

A. they'ld B. they'd C. they'wld D. none of the above

I think the answer is D.

5. Which of the following shows the correct possessive form of "children"?

A. childrens B. childrens' C. childrens's D. children's

I think the answer is A.

6. A preposition connects a (n):

A. subject and verb. B. object and modifiers. C. subject and predicate. D. adjective and adverb.

Re: Question about apostrophe usage with possesive pronouns

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 16:28:01 GMT

"the answer is that you can't. Can you think of an example where you might?"

The only time you would write an apostrophe with a possessive pronoun would be to indicate the contraction 's for is:

That's not my jacket. Mine's over there.

JJM

Re: their?

Vorpar — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 08:39:48 GMT

"Their" is used as a possessive for "the user" (to avoid gender pronouns like his or hers).

"they've": they is a pronoun for "the user" and is a contraction of "they have".

Can I contract "David is doing..." to "David's doing..."

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 06:58:15 GMT

Hello, all
Question:

"David is doing his home work."

Is it possible to use a contraction with David and is to make "David's doing his homework." I think in this case the contraction is either ungrammatical or at best unwise because David's is possessive.

Am I right or wrong? Would you get involved in teaching this kind of contraction or would you just stick to the contractions of, say, he is or she is?

Hope you can help

ML

CELTA trainee