Questions tagged [possessives]
Questions about the possessive, one of several constructions that describe ownership or association between two objects.
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Stylistic Advice regarding the two types of possessives before a gerund
I know that, in terms of formal grammar, either a possessive pronoun or genitive form should precede a gerund. So, for example, 'his being', etc.
I am, however, far more comfortable with the former ...
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0answers
25 views
gerund with compound clause for subject
Consider four sentences:
The reason I am late is bad weather.
The reason I am late is the weather being bad.
The reason I am late is the weather's being bad.
The reason I am late is a very adverse ...
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0answers
25 views
What's the possesive case of “Mars”? [duplicate]
I've known that the possessive case of the proper noun ending in "-s" such as "James" is formed by adding just "an apostrophe" or "an apostrophe and -s".
Is it ...
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1answer
49 views
Lack of possessive marker when taken from a group [duplicate]
I'm confused by this sentence:
One of my best friends band is playing tonight.
What is it that happens here, is the possessive marker completely dropped?
From what I understand:
I can't add an 's ...
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1answer
41 views
Name of 'rule for sequential possessive'
I've been unable to successfully search for or determine the name of this scenario that involves multiple possessive words in sequence.
We purchased some flowers for the mother of our friend, Jane. I ...
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1answer
31 views
How to punctuate a phrase that has words between the possessor and possession?
Example: the security policy for Acme Group owned and operated computers...
Obviously I could just reword it as "the security policy for computers owned and operated by Acme Group...," but ...
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0answers
33 views
Is “of” obligatory when writing “In August of this year”?
I saw there was already some discussion on here about "in this year" vs. "this year." I have a similar question, but this time regarding the use of the word "of," and the ...
3
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1answer
102 views
Pronunciation of the possessive form of singular nouns ending in “s”
First, let me point out that this is a non-native English learner asking this question.
I know similar questions have been asked here (some of them found on this page), but (at least of those I saw) ...
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possessive case with plural
How can I use the possessive case with many objects " s' "?
2Jane and 2Mary 2room;
it is right? :
girls’ books
Jane and Maries’ rooms
the children’s toys
the workmen’s tools
Peter and Helens’...
2
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2answers
61 views
'Literary' usage when possessive pronoun begins sentence
I am unsure the correct wording of this question. Could anyone point me to usage notes or guidance on a construction such as this:
'Theirs was a position known to few.' Or, 'His was a car without ...
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0answers
24 views
I need either a confirmation or a refutation regarding the following theory of mine about the pattern"“noun phrase + of + possessive pronoun”
I've been thinking a lot about this matter, and this is what I came up with as a rather complicated yet seemingly airtight rule regarding when not to use the aforementioned pattern. It goes like this:
...
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2answers
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Use of a possessive determiner or “the”
I want to know if, in the sentence below, being the last two collections of mine, it is mandatory to use the possessive determiner MY_other one… Or can I use the determiner THE_other one…?
I will sell ...
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Is there a technical term for the situation where a possessive noun compounded with another noun form the name of a very specific object?
I'm not a linguist so please excuse this clumsily worded question: Is there a technical term for the situation where a possessive noun compounded with another noun form the name of a very specific ...
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1answer
45 views
Correct way to use multiple possessive apostrophes in sentences? [closed]
I find multiple possessive apostrophes confusing, and so I'm having trouble deciding which of the sentences below would be correct.
Example:
The bicycle's frame colour is red.
The bicycle frame's ...
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2answers
40 views
“It is two teachers' birthday today” or “It is two teachers' birthdays today”?
Apparently I've been involved in a debate in the Duolingo forums for about a year on whether when two possessors in a possessive construction possess the same shared/common object, whether the object ...
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0answers
24 views
Correct possessive: “my genius” or “my ingeniosity”?
I have stumbled across the usage of "genius" as a possessive on two seperate occassions:
A meme featuring Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear saying:
Sometimes my genius is... it's almost ...
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1answer
69 views
Are possessives determiners(his, my, her…) preferred to the definite article ('the')
I have a question regarding the usage of possessives in substitution of “the”: Are possessives preferred to the definite article 'the' in some occasions and why?
For example, I found the relationship ...
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1answer
29 views
When you say “his revenge”, can “his” refer to the person on whose behalf said revenge is being taken?
Context :
Male fictional character is killed.
Female fictional character wants to seek revenge.
I've heard someone refer to said revenge as "his revenge", but to me that seems wrong and it's ...
0
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2answers
49 views
How to write compound possessives with “or”
When a compound possessive is formed with "and," I think the rule is that both terms become possessive when there are multiple separate objects that are owned, as in "John's and Dave's ...
0
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1answer
27 views
Author(s) last name(s) (to use possesive or not)
I am translating a text and the result is the following:
author's last name(s)
and
authors' last name(s)
how do I state that both a single author's last name(s) and that multiple authors' last name(s) ...
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0answers
36 views
How to use apostrophe properly in this sentence? [duplicate]
There's a person named Khushwant Singh in a story. He and his grandmother are friends.
There's a question asked in my book: What is the 'turning point' in the story?
And my answer begins something ...
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1answer
50 views
Quoted Possessives Ending in “s”
"The Best Punctuation Book, Period," by June Casagrande, says that, when forming the possessive of text in quotation marks, we do this:
“Casablanca” ’s best scene
I love it!
The ending ...
1
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1answer
81 views
“One of my friends” vs “a friend of mine”
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, page 717, reads
[16] quantified NP has scope over frequency adjunct
One of my friends has been sacked two or three times in the last few
months
When ...
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2answers
87 views
Ben's and Jerry's Ice Cream [duplicate]
I assume that if we had two people named Ben and Jerry who made ice cream together, then it would be Ben's and Jerry's ice cream, yes? Now if "Ben and Jerry" were the name of a company, then ...
0
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1answer
104 views
Bare genitives: written vs spoken forms
Page 1595 of the CambridgeGEL reads
In writing the bare genetive has the form of an apostrophe at
the end of the word: dogs’. In speech it has no realisation at
all [...]; an optional bare genitive ...
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1answer
42 views
Can a series of years be possessive?
Can a series of years be possessive? For example:
I am 1990s' child
This feels weird, but is it technically correct? And how about the following?
I am a child of the 1990s'
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1answer
55 views
Genitive without ('s) or (of)
Can I use "Teachers portal" instead of "teachers' portal"? Which of them is more accurate?
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87 views
“Your or someone else's” or “Yours or someone else's”? [duplicate]
Should I say
Your or someone else's
Or
Yours or someone else's
When I am referring to an item that may either belong to the person I am addressing, or someone else?
Example context:
Check ...
0
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1answer
33 views
What kind of noun is the 'Royal College of Surgeons'?
Would it just be considered a compound noun or is there another name for it?
And even though surgeons is plural, would it still take 's to make the possessive (i.e. the Royal College of Surgeons's ...
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0answers
29 views
Double possessive when thing possessed is plural
"This year we planned a cruise with four friends of ours."
I've only ever seen a double possessive with words that are singular. For example, "I am a friend of Bob's" or "It's the password of Mark's."...
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“X dollars' worth of Y” construction with “USD”
My question is similar to "Dollars' worth" vs. "dollars worth" for numerals but for numerals that are followed by a currency abbreviation.
When it's spelled out, it's clear ...
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I'm starting a carpet repair business and my name is Chris. Is Chris's Carpet Repair correct? [duplicate]
Is Chris's Carpet Repair correct or should it be Chris' Carpet Repair?
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0answers
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Would it be correct to say that “whose” is “the only interrogative possessive pronoun”?
I am creating a crossword puzzle for submission to a newspaper. For the entry WHOSE, would it be correct to say "The only interrogative possessive pronoun" as the clue? Would pedantic solvers approve ...
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1answer
63 views
Which one of the following sentences is more correct?
"Maria's, Mary's and Sophia's first loves was Katarina.
"Katarina was Maria's, Mary's and Sophia's first loves"
"The first love of Maria's, Mary's and Sophia's was Katarina."
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Can you use the possessive with the word “rest”?
For example,
A group of 12 was trekking through the woods. Sarah's tent was all rolled up nicely. The rest's weren't.
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1answer
85 views
Is this possessive optional? How would it affect the meaning of the sentence?
I'm writing an English piece as part of an assignment for our class, but I was unsure whether to add an apostrophe here:
I went to see the Arctic Monkeys concert last week.
or
I went to see the ...
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2answers
204 views
Is it “childs” or “child's” [closed]
I am making a website to manage homework for students, parents and teachers.
Anyway, I want the grammar to be correct and was wondering what would be the correct way to say this:
All of your child's ...
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0answers
45 views
Is it right to add possessive verb?
Every illness is a story, and Annie Page’s began with the kinds of small, unexceptional details that mean nothing until seen in hindsight.
I will like to check if there is any grammatical error in ...
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1answer
237 views
What is the proper written plural possessive form for nouns that do not take -s, -es, or -ses upon pluralisation?
For most English words, the rules for construction of possessive forms are fairly simple.
Singular nouns are possessivised by adding -’s to the end (even if the word already ends with an S):1
cat → ...
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3answers
84 views
Which one is correct “United's stadium” or “United' stadium”? [closed]
What is the correct way to put the apostrophe. the doubt is with "stadium" because it starts with 's'.
E.g:
"United's stadium" or "United' stadium"
PS: I need to know why (with grammatical ...
0
votes
1answer
45 views
Are both these sentences grammatically correct? [duplicate]
I have recently found the following. I do know the first sentence is wrong.
(1) "I am not a fan of him."
Meaning : I am not his fan.
(2) I am not a fan of his.
Meaning : I am not one of his ...
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1answer
56 views
the company failure to comply vs the company's failure
I got into an argument with a British native speaker over the following phrase:
'the company failure to comply with its contractual obligations'
I'm a non-native speaker, therefore I can't be quite ...
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3answers
54 views
Correct the sentence
Are they your books ?
Yes they are mine .
Is this correct or should it be are these your books?
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0answers
38 views
Which one is correct in formal style? Why?
1) It's a habit of mine.
2) He’s a brother of Maria’s.
3) My salary is higher than that of Joe.
4) My salary is higher than that of Joe's
5) My salary is higher than that of theirs.
6) My ...
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0answers
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Should [noun] of [determiner] [pronoun]' e.g. “request of my sister” have a possessive?
I was reading a translated book and it used the sentence:
"I could never refuse a request of my elder sister's."
When I look at the above sentence I feel it should be written as:
"I could never ...
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0answers
141 views
The difference between compound words and genitive cases
I have a problem with genitive cases and compound words, I don't understand the difference between a genitive case and a compound word (noun + noun structure). I was trying to understand them by ...
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1answer
100 views
When can you omit using s after possessive nouns?
It seems that in some cases s is not used after possessive nouns, for example, you would not say Fuel's price went up instead you would say Fuel price went up. However, the sentence This car's price ...
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0answers
232 views
Which does the U.S. government use: U.S.’s or US’s?
The government of the United States punctuates our toponymic acronyms thusly:
the U.S. (not US)
the USA (not U.S.A.)
For proof of this, you can visit usa.gov. (Note that the article is only ...
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1answer
3k views
people's mind vs people's minds?
Recently I was reading a book entitled "50 Tips to Read People’s Mind". Somewhere in the book, the writer says:
These men do the seemingly impossible when they appear to be reading
people's minds,...
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1answer
68 views
They didn't object to his (being given a second chance)
a. They objected to my being given a second chance, but not to his being given a second chance.
Can you omit the second verb phrase being given a second chance as in (b)?
b. They objected to my ...
