Questions about the possessive, one of several constructions that describe ownership or association between two objects.
5
votes
1answer
233 views
What is the possessive for several names?
If Alice and Bob each has a house, are these "Alice and Bob's houses" or "Alice's and Bob's houses"?
Does that change anything if each of the houses belongs to both of them?
2
votes
6answers
284 views
“It's” versus “its” frequencies
My hypothesis is that in informal writing (say something like Stack Exchange questions) "it's" is massively more common than "its".
Is this true? Are there any data to support it?
Concrete ...
4
votes
2answers
149 views
Referring to “the assertion made in the US Supreme Court's majority opinion”
I want to refer to an assertion that is part of the written majority opinion in a particular case, put forth by the US Supreme Court's majority for that case.
Question spurred by my attempts to do ...
1
vote
3answers
12k views
How do you write “a class's constructor”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in s?
I want to write this sentence:
In a singleton pattern, a class's
constructor needs to be private
instead of ...
1
vote
3answers
644 views
Possessive for a third person and a first person
Bob and I are working on a project. I want to refer to "Bob's work" and "my work" collectively, without referring to Bob and myself collectively. (This will be the first reference to Bob and myself in ...
4
votes
2answers
690 views
Store names & possessive
Observation: It seems that it's common to turn a store name into a possessive, for example a store named "Palisade" gets transformed to possessive in speech like, "Hey how about going to Palisade's ...
1
vote
1answer
137 views
Possessive of Queen's? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Possessive of a word that's already possessive?
I ran into this issue today. Referring to Queen's University, how would you say "I've been accepted to Queen's MA ...
2
votes
2answers
449 views
Explanation on when the possessive should be used instead of an attributive noun
How would you explain to a person who is learning English, and whose native language does not have attributive nouns, when the possessive should be used instead of an attributive noun?
In particular, ...
0
votes
2answers
8k views
How do you show possession with the word “year” (“year's” vs.“years”)?
So, I develop for a company that does workplace-surveys. And one of our report-formats has just been translated into English. And with it a description on how to read the reports. This description ...
1
vote
1answer
220 views
Best link to forward to juniors re: correct use of apostrophes, possessives and contractions
I'm tired of my junior employees abusing, misusing and otherwise being cavalier about possessives and the use of apostrophes. I could wag my finger at them, point them to some Guide of Style or to any ...
2
votes
2answers
73 views
How to say something sponsors another
If book A is sponsored by entity B, how can I say:
. . . in the upcoming B 's sponsored book A .
. .
or
. . . in the upcoming B sponsored book A . .
.
2
votes
3answers
105 views
IEEE X or IEEE's X
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has a Project Management Body of Knowledge.
When referring to the PMBOK, should I use the possessive:
IEEE 's Project Management Body ...
1
vote
1answer
6k views
Yours vs. your's
Which is correct “Is that yours?” or “Is that your’s?”?
I ask because it is possessive, so I would think it would be the latter, but I typically use and see the former usage.
Are there particular ...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
How do I correctly use the possessive apostrophe with a parenthetical citation?
Is the apostrophe in the right place in the following sentence?
Pendleton, et al. (2002)’s research implies that extension of treatment allows for greater weight loss.
0
votes
1answer
417 views
Avoiding the possessive form of words ending with “s”
This question deals with the proper possessive for words that end with s.
I am wondering how common it is to restructure a sentence as to avoid the awkward possessive form. For example:
I ...
0
votes
2answers
299 views
About possessive apostrophe usage! [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in s?
Hello! New to English, but doing fairly fine so far... well, here's a situation I had a couple times, and... well, ...
3
votes
3answers
4k views
Our bodies' or our body's
In this context:
"This [subject] [verb clause] by boosting our [body's || bodies'] immune system?"
In this case the writer is using "our" as a generic substitution for "your". The argument went that ...
3
votes
1answer
251 views
St. John's greatest dinner: how to indicate a possessive of a noun which already ends apostrophe - s [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
If the cricket ground Lord's is a possessive, what if you want to describe something belonging to Lord's?
Here's a tricky one that I can't quite figure out the ...
7
votes
4answers
6k views
What is the possessive of “you guys”?
Most people seem to stumble over this. The problem can arise with any multi-word phrase that needs a possessive but ends in S, and so sounds awkward using the clitic apostrophe-S. I've heard this ...
6
votes
2answers
855 views
Why use apostrophe-s to denote possession when using 'of'
Think of the simple phrase "Bill's friend".
If you were going to turn this around using the preposition 'of' would you say:
A friend of Bill's
or
A friend of Bill
It appears to me that, in the US ...
6
votes
2answers
216 views
“Nikki's and Alice's X” vs. “Nikki and Alice's X”
Which option is grammatical?
There will be readings from Nikki Giovanni’s and Alice Walker’s writings.
There will be readings from Nikki Giovanni and Alice Walker's writings.
Saying it ...
0
votes
1answer
1k views
What is the proper way to say possesive with “person X” and self? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
My wife and I's seafood collaboration dinner
I've never known what the proper way to use a sentence in which you and a specific person (as in you can't just say ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
How to indicate possession when using abbreviation “Dr.”
I often run into a case where I need to say I have a doctor's appointment, but how would I properly punctuate it if I wanted to use the abbreviation Dr. instead of the word doctor? Dr.'s appointment ...
8
votes
2answers
9k views
Possessive and plural of “Series”
I'm looking at the financial definition of series: a group of stocks or options that have common characteristics. Source
How would I form the possessive and plural of this term? I'm guessing it is ...
10
votes
2answers
983 views
Is “a friend of his” a used phrase?
I know that a friend of mine is a used phrase, but is the phrase also used with other personal possessive adjectives?
I met a friend of his.
8
votes
1answer
657 views
How did an apostrophe plus the letter “s” come to indicate possession? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Origins of possessive pronouns
How did English come to use "apostrophe s" to indicate possession, when it seems to me that few (if any!) other languages do (or do ...
5
votes
2answers
260 views
Train service or Train's service - Adj or Possessive (Edit) Genitive
I saw this announcement on train:
The train service terminates at ...
I think, in the noun phrase the train service, the word train does not modify the noun service (Edit: as other noun acting ...
11
votes
1answer
863 views
Origins of possessive pronouns
If apostrophe + s is the acceptable way of denoting a genitive in English, is it possible that possessive pronouns, such as hers, ours and yours, started life as possessive adjectives with apostrophe ...
2
votes
3answers
758 views
Can “his/her” be replaced by “his”?
Yesterday, I asked this question on Web Apps:
If a Facebook user dies, what happens
to the account?
Actually, I wanted to ask it this way:
If a Facebook user dies, what happens
to ...
4
votes
0answers
392 views
What is the possessive form of “what”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
'Which', 'whose' or something else?
First of all, I'm not a native speaker so I can't rely on my intuition in this specific case.
For a very long time I ...
7
votes
4answers
1k views
Why use “his” in association with the word “mankind”?
I have a doubt. The economist Keynes in a book wrote:
The power to become habituated to his surroundings is a marked characteristic of mankind.
I would have used "its" instead but since English ...
0
votes
1answer
117 views
J.A. Gagarin's flight vs J.A. Gagarin flight
1) Is it Ok to leave the initials or would you drop them? Writing his name in full seems odd since it isn't Gagarin who is the point of discussion.
2) Is it Gagarin's or Gagarin? Is there any ...
7
votes
5answers
880 views
What possessive forms are used for mutual 1st person ownership?
I want to talk to someone about the house that my wife and I own. Saying, for example, "My wife's and my house is awesome," sounds a bit funny to me. What's the best way to express this?
...
2
votes
1answer
183 views
Which goal is whose?
Here is the situation:
Kids in a small yard are about to play soccer. There are no goalposts in that yard (or "goals" or whatever you call it, I mean those metal frames on each side of the soccer ...
3
votes
1answer
2k views
“Your company name” or “Your company's name”?
Which way is correct here? Some explanation would be appreciated.
3
votes
3answers
283 views
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votes
3answers
535 views
Usage of the gerund preceded by the possessive pronoun
I read this thread on the usage of the gerund preceded by the possessive pronoun with much interest.
I have another question about the usage of the gerund preceded by the possessive pronoun.
In a ...
5
votes
3answers
2k views
Do things use apostrophe for indicating possessive? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is using the possessive 's correct in “the car's antenna”?
If someone owns something I would say: Mom's car.
But if the owner is not a person, does ...
0
votes
3answers
141 views
Seasonal parsing: “enjoying Re-run's of Christmas' past” — fragment, pluralization and ownership
enjoying Re-run's of Christmas' past
I just saw this posted as a Facebook status update, and it has boggled me as to how it should be considered or how it should be rewritten. If re-runs belong ...
1
vote
5answers
406 views
“human brain capacity” or “human brain's capacity”
What is the correct version please?
The human brain capacity to do something.
The human brain's capacity to do something.
9
votes
3answers
15k views
Should I use “everyone's”, “everyones'” or “everyones”?
I have the following sentence:
Joe got everyone's attention and started to speak.
Should it be everyone's, everyones' or everyones?
11
votes
4answers
4k views
What is the pronunciation of the possessive words that already end in s? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When did it become correct to add an ‘s’ to a singular possessive already ending in ‘s’?
Which singular names ending in “s” form possessives with only a bare apostrophe?
...
1
vote
0answers
564 views
Other ways of saying whichs [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
'Which', 'whose' or something else?
Of course there isn't a word whichs (as far as I know), but I am talking about the possessive form of which.
...
16
votes
3answers
1k views
Apostrophe in “beginners guide”
In the phrase beginners guide to …, where should the apostrophe go?
Beginner’s Guide to […]
Beginners’ Guide to […]
In my particular case, this is the title for a presentation so there are ...
6
votes
2answers
926 views
“You” or “your” when using two subjects with a possession?
I came across your and Mr X's publication
or
I came across you and Mr X's publication
5
votes
4answers
12k views
Correct usage of pronoun: “their” vs “its” [closed]
Which word goes in the blank (their or its)?
The stones are small, but ___ value is great.
I think it is their but my child's paper says it is its. Which is correct and why?
8
votes
2answers
422 views
*all of us's friend
There's this funny gap I tried to write a paper once upon a time when I studied linguistics, and I'd like to know if anyone has insight into it. The construction in question is the possessive ...
5
votes
3answers
892 views
Can I say “Please find my yesterday’s and today’s daily reports in the documents.”
Can I say "Please find my yesterday’s and today’s daily reports in the documents."?
4
votes
1answer
806 views
Using “who” for things (nonliving beings)
On an online typing tutor site I came across the following phrase:
We're now going to move on to words who's first letter originates on the top row.
Can "who" normally be used in this way (to ...
12
votes
2answers
813 views
How to indicate possession by e.g. passers-by, mothers-in-law
I'm quite fond of internal pluralisation, such as passers-by, mothers-in-law, or even Chambers of Commerce.
However, I've recently realised that I've no idea how to indicate possession in such a ...
