Should possessive 's be used when there is no possession in the strict ('this is John's property') sense involved?

Question

I was trying to write “I was using the lecture's flow of logic”, as to say that I was following the logic that was in the lecture. But I am corrected by a spell-checker.

I tried to google it, but this leads me to another much more silly question. How do you call that “..'s” that designates ownership / association? I really did try to google it, but since “'s” is such a bad search term, and any formation for "What do you call that 's you add to designate ownership" I could think of, yielded anything but the answer I was looking for.

So my question is twofold.

1. What is the name of that 's thing? I guess it is not the "ownership 's" :) Is it perhaps called officially the ‘possessive s’?

2. Is saying "lecture's" (pertaining to the lecture) valid English grammar? Or is it valid grammar but people just don't say it this way?

Answer 1

Should possessive 's be used when there is no possession in the strict ('this is John's property') sense involved, and / or especially when the 'possessor' is non-sentient?

Achilles tendon [mythical(?)/sentient(?) referent; association not true possession]

travellers cheques [generic sentient referents; association]

the tree's roots [non-sentient referent; non-legal 'possession?']

the programme's cancellation [non-sentient referent; association]

Grammar.ccc.com gives a balanced view as regards non-sentient referents:

Many writers consider it bad form to use apostrophe -s possessives with pieces of furniture and buildings or inanimate objects in general. Instead of "the desk's edge" (according to many authorities), we should write "the edge of the desk" and instead of "the hotel's windows" we should write "the windows of the hotel." In fact, we would probably avoid the possessive altogether and use the noun as an attributive: "the hotel windows." This rule (if, in fact, it is one) is no longer universally endorsed. [Actually, in certain cases, it sounds more natural to do the opposite.] We would not say "the radio of that car" instead of "that car's radio" (or the "car radio") and we would not write "the desire of my heart" instead of "my heart's desire." Writing "the edge of the ski" would probably be an improvement over "the ski's edge," however.

For expressions of time and measurement, the possessive is shown with an apostrophe -s: "one dollar's worth," "two dollars' worth," "a hard day's night," "two years' experience," "an evening's entertainment," and "two weeks' notice" (the title of the Hollywood movie nothwithstanding).

Notice that judgement calls for reasons of style are endorsed by the article; this is where the true grey areas, the ones worth considering, now lie.

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Non-ownership by sentient beings / groups of such has been discussed before (working mens/men's clubs; dogs/dogs' homes; writers/writers' guilds ...).

With dead man's handle, I'd just take the apostrophe as part of the idiom. With nine days wonder, the trend seems generally towards the dropping of the 'associative rather than true possessive' apostrophe-s, but this is not the only practice followed.

Answer 2

1. What is the name of that 's thing? I guess it is not the "ownership 's" :) Is it perhaps called officially the ‘possessive s’?

Consider calling it a genitive marker.

The suffix -'s on nouns is a marker of genitive case in English. - What is the Genitive Case? by Richard Nordquist

2. Is saying "lecture's" (pertaining to the lecture) valid English grammar? Or is it valid grammar but people just don't say it this way?

Yes, it's valid. There is an odd notion (odd to me, anyway) that the -'s form should not be used for inanimate nouns:

The possessive form can sound strange if you use it to talk about things that aren't alive (inanimate objects). ... A table is not alive, so it sounds strange to say 'the table's leg is broken'. - The English Space

The Chigago Manual of Style Online is almost derisive about this:

Q. I’m trying to find a definitive answer to whether an inanimate object can take the possessive form. I have been told that an object cannot possess something, so the ’s form should not be used. Instead of “the vehicle’s speed,” it should be “the speed of the vehicle.” I understand the rule, but can’t find anything here to support it.

A. We seem to be having a run on questions that turn on the issue of literal word usage. But let’s think about it. If a table can’t “have” legs, where does this leave us? True, the table is probably not conscious that it possesses legs, but then does that mean it doesn’t truly possess them? If a table possesses legs in the forest, where there’s no one to see them . . . oh, wait—that’s another riddle. Seriously, I’d love to know who makes up these rules, seemingly just to drive everyone crazy. Don’t worry—your vehicle can have speed, and there’s no difference between the speed of the vehicle and the vehicle’s speed (or “vehicle speed,” if you prefer to avoid the controversy).

- The Chicago Manual of Style Online

Answer 3

use of the apostrophe to mean a feature of something:

"Apostrophes showing possession You use an apostrophe to show that "a thing" or person belongs or "relates to" someone or "something": instead of saying the party of Ben or the weather of yesterday, you can write Ben’s party and yesterday’s weather."

apostrophe

So, a story can have (possess) a logical flow. An argument can have (possess) a logical flow.

Ergo, by that rule, the meaning of the phrase a story's logical flow is simply not arcane.

And the phrase: the flow of logic of the story would be edited to that by any good English-language editor. Two ofs is not great.

Another example: the content of abstraction of philosophy

Philosophy's abstract content.....

[for some odd reason, when I try to bold here, it does not appear in the text so I have to use quotation marks instead.]

Answer 4

1. I have always called it apostrophe s (in the very few situations where it needed a label).

2. As a question of style, inanimate objects usually do not take apostrophe s - that form of possession is reserved just for people as owners of something (with a possible inclusion of animals - such as "the bird's wing"), so "the flow of logic in the lecture" is more elegant.