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

Re: Please, which is the correct way?

Brunces — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:47:48 GMT

Sorry, but I'm still confused about the possession issue.

For example, "car crash". Is this a possessive case?

That movie, starring Nicolas Cage, "Lord of war". Why not "War lord" or "War's lord"? What's the difference? When do I have to use OF (Lord of war), 'S (War's lord) or "nothing" (War lord)?

Thanks for the punctuation comments.

brunces

possessive followed by appositive

Grammarshammer — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 06:16:09 GMT

Is this the correct punctuation? Note that 'Slipknot' is being used as a collective noun.

I realize that these feeling of pleasure were derived from my decision to listen to my heroâs, Slipknot's, voice.

Re: Mechanics: Apostrophe and quotation mark usage

Mister Micawber — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 06:50:58 GMT

GW, there are rules for these things (which unfortunately sometimes differ between AmE and BrE usage), and there is an over-riding guideline of clarity: if it gets too messy or iffy, reframe the sentence. With regard to your specific examples:

The word 'and' can be used intermittently throughout the paper, but the paper may look mediocre. --This is correct, but they are not apostophes (which are used for contractions and possessives), but 'single quotation marks' (') as opposed to 'double quotation marks' ("). Some style manuals reserve single quotation marks only for quotes within quotes: She said, "I like your 'hot' pants". Other style manuals allow you to use them instead of double quotation marks for single words or short phrases that are not direct quotations, but are indicating a special use of the word or phrase-- as you and I have done here with the word 'and'.

Do I like buying clothes from Walmart? Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. This "sometimes-clause" is based on what I consider the ideal me and the other me. -- Here again I would use single quotation marks, because 'sometimes-clause' is just a new phrase introduced, not a direct quote; other style guides demand the double quotes. Very particular stylists might even require " 'sometimes'-clause".

I'm going to the store to buy that thing you wanted. You said it was "supervantabulous", but someone else said it was the dorkiest thing ever. -- You have punctuated this correctly. If the punctuation is a part of the quotation, put it within the marks; if the punctuation is a part of the main sentence outside the quote, then the mark should go outside. A notable exception (in British eyes) is the period at the end of a sentence.

This would be called my "sometimes-clause", and I haven't found a way to deal with it. -- This too is correctly punctuated (except for the possibility of " 'sometimes'-clause")

Re: considered of

Mister Micawber — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 10:30:01 GMT

I am not sure why you see the usage of this nonfinite clause differently from that of the others you mention, SB. As with the independent clause, that is a pronomial referring to astonishment and of Mr. Bennet an of-possessive:

Are you perhaps disturbed by the semicolons? I am, since the clause between them is not an independent one, and your that of Mr. Bennet perhaps surpassed the rest is what is called for here, according to the punctuation.

Re: Apostrophe problem! Help

Matress — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 15:17:47 GMT

Apostrophe ( ' )

See Possessives for more information.

The apostrophe is used when leaving out a letter or number in a contraction, e.g. can't, wouldn't.
The apostrophe is used for omitted letters, e.g. rock 'n' roll, and for omitted numbers, e.g. the class of '72, the '20s.
The apostrophe is used for plurals of letter abbreviations with periods and single letters, e.g. p's and q's, two A's and four B's. Plurals of multi-letter combinations and plurals of numerals end in s with no apostrophe, e.g. VIPs, 1000s.
The possessive of singular nouns ending in s, including nouns ending in s, x, z, ch, or sh, is formed by adding 's, e.g. witness's affidavit. However, if the next word begins with s, then add only an apostrophe, e.g. witness' story.
The possessive of singular nouns not ending in s is formed by adding 's, e.g. VIP's seat, baby's food.
The apostrophe follows the s of a word with two sibilant sounds, e.g. Kansas', Moses'.
The apostrophe is added for the possessive of a noun that is plural in form but singular in meaning, e.g. mathematics' formulas.
The apostrophe follows the s for the possessive of plural nouns that end in s, e.g. girls' movies. For the possessive of a plural noun that does not end in s, add 's, e.g. women's rights.
For singular proper nouns, add only an apostrophe for the possessive, e.g. Achilles' heel.
No apostrophe is used for personal pronouns like hers, his, its, mine, ours, theirs, whose, your, yours. Indefinite pronouns require an apostrophe, e.g. one's lover. For other pronouns like another and others, follow the rule for singular and plural, e.g. another's and others'.
For joint possession, the 's is added to the word nearest the object of possession, e.g. Francis and Kucera's book.
The apostrophe is not used in names of organizations unless actually part of the legal name. The apostrophe is not used in plurals of numerals or multiple-letter combinations.

http://dictionary.reference.com/writing/styleguide/punctuation.html

Re: Compound nouns and other queries.

Mister Micawber — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 06:33:24 GMT

My opinion is that compound nouns do not reflect possession. The first noun is simply an adjective (and as an adjective it is singular: cigarette brand, shoe store, computer market).

As you say, in many cases either form will do, as your Microsoft logo /Microsoft's logo exemplifies-- the result is identical. I do not see any added specificity in the 's form, in any case. My experience here is that most Japanese students overuse the possessive form, where native speakers usually opt for the compound noun. It certainly saves punctuation doubts.

Incidentally, I am afraid that I would argue with much of Joe Totale's reasoning, but again I don't have time; just take that as a caution.

Re: Another Punctuation Question

bermbits — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 03:59:12 GMT

There are three basic rules, which I won't mention here.

When a noun such as Keats is possessive, the lone apostrophe is fine and follows the rule. When the extra syllable is added, the extra s (Keats's is okay (Keats-uz).

Re: Can anybody correct the grammar in this exercise?

anon1 — Mon, 29 Nov 2004 05:40:23 GMT

There are several linguistic resources that help people express genericity(??, what's genercity?). Down below, it can be observed several forms that can also express something different than genericity(?)--awkward sentence.

In the first pair of sentences one find two degrees of genericity expressed by the zero determiner and the presence of a count plural noun. The sentence[,] "Park rangers are available." is more specific than, "Park rangers are brave." As regards meaning, while in the first one the reference is made to a specific place (incomplete); in the second one, one assumes that the reference is made to all the rangers in general, it implies they have to be brave in order to perform their duty.(run-on)

stopped reviewing

Two ungrammatical constructions such as The blood irrigates our bodies and A dingo is indigenous to Australia can also be found. Here the speaker is trying to express genericity, but the article the makes it impossible. Thus it would be correct, if it said Blood irrigates our bodies, implying all bodies; and Dingos are indigenous to Australia, meaning all dingos.

The last cases are Blood is gushing out of his wound and Blood is full of nutrients. Both denote genericity by means of the lack of article. However, the first one makes reference to the blood of some man, through the use of the possessive adjective his; and the second one to everybodyâs blood. From this it can be concluded that the former sentence is more specific than the second one.

This exercise is an example of the system of qualification by which one expresses his or her perception of a thing or entity as a countable or uncountable mass noun, around two processes either relating to the semantic nature of entities which are lexicalized as mass or count or to the grammatical marking of entities (singular/plural, mass/count).

I am not sure if English is a second language or if this is for a course. Your grammar and punctuation are poor.

In the following pair of sentences you will find two degrees of genericity[what is this "genericity"?] expressed by the zero determiner and the presence of a count plural noun.

Sentence A: Park rangers are available.

Sentence B: Park ranger are brave.

With regard to meaning, in Sentence A reference is made to a specific place, while in Sentence B, the reference is implied to all park rangers--it implies that park rangers need to be brave to perform their duties.

You mishmashed your example sentences in with your text and thus it is hard to read and understand. You should strive to make it easy for the reader to quickly and readily grasp the text and its implications. Moreover, you have some incomplete sentences and run-ons. If you had a cleaner structure, I think you would catch your errors more readily.

I hope this helps.

MountainHiker

Re: Punctuation please

CalifJim — Thu, 30 Sep 2004 22:35:23 GMT

Mr. Micawber,

Question: Is the topic of apostrophe placement really part of "punctuation"? Since it has to do with the formation of the possessive case, I want to say it's grammar. What do you think?

I know this is off-topic for the thread, but I was curious what the general view is on this.

California Jim

St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church

Guest — Mon, 27 Sep 2004 18:03:07 GMT

I am proofreading something for my church and the phrase "...to spread the good news throughout St. Dunstanâs neighborhoods..." is in one of the printed materials. This doesn't look right to me, because the name of the church is already a possessive. Is that the correct punctuation for a double possessive, or should we write it another way completely? (Example "...spread the good news throughout the neighborhoods surrounding St. Dunstan's..."

Thanks in advance!
Aleta