65
votes
Accepted
Why is the apostrophe positioned differently in "ones' complement" than "two's complement"?
Donald Knuth, that doyen of computer science, says in Art of Computer Programming, Vol 2.:
Detail-oriented readers and copy-editors should notice the position of
the apostrophe in terms like "two'...
- 976
15
votes
"Brazilian's army's ammo supply": is it right to use apostrophes on two consecutive nouns like this?
It would depend on what you meant. If you mean the Brazilian army was short of ammunition, then you would write the Brazilian Army's ammo supply is low.
But if you were referring to an army that is ...
- 36.7k
9
votes
Accepted
What's the rule for pronouncing “’s” as /z/ or /s/?
If the final sound in the base of the word is voiced, we use the voiced alveolar sibilant /z/.
If the last sound in the base is an unvoiced consonant, we use /s/.
However, if the last sound in the ...
- 45.1k
8
votes
Do I add " ’s " after the number on a pope/king’s name? (e.g. Pope Paul VI’s)
The English apostrophe-s is not a case inflection the way you have in German or Russian, Latin or Greek. Rather it is a clitic that attaches to the end of the entire noun phrase, not merely to the ...
- 134k
7
votes
Accepted
Apostrophes in a list of people
If the boat is posssessed equally by the three, you only need put the apostrophe on the last person's name.
E.g., John, Jacob, and Mary's boat.
The possessive, in a list, on the last person shows ...
- 324
7
votes
A friend of John's / John's friend
Short answer
You could say either. However, it would perhaps be more natural to say a friend of John's, as the Original Poster suggests. The reason for this is that the speaker will probably want to ...
- 45.1k
6
votes
Is the possessive of "one" spelled "ones" or "one's"?
Indefinite pronouns like one and somebody: one's, somebody's
The possessive of the pronoun one is spelled one's. There are many types of pronouns. Unfortunately, people explaining the mnemonic for ...
- 80.3k
6
votes
Accepted
How do you punctuate what FFS expands to?
I have always written it as 'for fuck's sake' when I have needed to.
Definition of 'FFS'
in British English
slang
ABBREVIATION FOR the taboo expression 'for fuck's sake': used esp in social media, ...
- 12k
5
votes
Is "mens" a valid word?
The "possessive" or genitive -'(s) construction in English has several uses.
In modern English, the most common and productive usage is to turn an entire NP (or DP, depending on what framework you're ...
- 80.3k
5
votes
Are there nouns that undergo no change when used in the possessive (Saxon genitive)?
I think you might be mistaking attributive nouns in noun–noun compounds for possessive nouns with apostrophes, but I’m not completely certain.
When you have a child entertainer, the word child is ...
- 134k
4
votes
Is it "John or Mary's house" or "John's or Mary's house"?
In my view, this question has three dimensions—one focused on logic, one concerned with style-guide preferences, and one emphasizing real-world usage.
The logic dimension
As a matter of logic, the ...
- 161k
4
votes
Accepted
Adding a possessive to a singular noun phrase that ends in a plural noun
I'm going to quote a comment that I think efficiently lays out some of the presuppositions that this question is based on, in order to express some disagreement with those presuppositions:
in ...
- 80.3k
4
votes
Accepted
On the idiomaticity of attributive proper nouns, proper adjectives, and either singular or plural possessives when describing Imperial Possessions
You should say "Ottoman war machine" and "Byzantine city of Constantinople".
Ottoman, although derived from a name, is one of the words that people like to say is "used as an adjective". The phrase "...
- 80.3k
4
votes
Found in Mary'r Room
Assuming we're talking about the his-possessive and its ilk (also called the "possessive dative"), the forms with "her" and "their" were used "very rarely", so ...
- 65.2k
3
votes
Accepted
What's wrong with "One of my children's name IS John"?
Actually, this construction seems to be be attested in some documents indexed by Google Books:
The Witness: One of my children's name is Richard White.
(The federal reporter - Volume 219 - Page ...
- 80.3k
3
votes
You're both of us' child / You're both of our child / You're both of ours child - Why are these all ungrammatical?
As you note, you can have co-ordinated plurals:
You're [Mary and John]'s child
You're [the McDonalds'] child
You're [the couple who robbed them]'s child
All use a phrase and the Saxon genitive. The ...
- 101k
3
votes
"Brazilian's army's ammo supply": is it right to use apostrophes on two consecutive nouns like this?
To be honest there are cases when it's perfectly acceptable to have "dual 's"
For Example: "Bob's army's Supply was lower then normal after the storm."
That said, it's probably best to avoid it. ...
- 1,959
3
votes
Accepted
Do I need an apostrophe in "These trees’ roots"?
If the main focus of the question is where to place the possessive apostrophe then the answers posted by Caleb and Daniel are absolutely correct, the apostrophe is placed after the suffix "s"...
- 90.3k
3
votes
Why are some possessives formed with “of ” but not apostrophe-“s”?
English speakers preferentially use the possessive apostrophe when the possessor is a living entity.
When the owner is a living entity, the prepositional phrasing is technically correct, but the ...
- 1,076
3
votes
How to use a the possessive "s" after a dot?
The New Yorker has a convention of writing Jr.,’s in such cases, as in Donald Trump, Jr.,’s love (source). It seems odd, but they present their rationale here.
- 131
3
votes
How do you make a phrase possessive?
The sentence is perfectly grammatical as it is. Here a friend of mine's is called a phrasal genitive. We say that mine's has double case-marking, an inner case and an outer case. See especially the ...
- 12.5k
2
votes
Saxon Genitive or adjective
I think the classification of the part of speech of words like "FDA" is actually not necessarily as simple as tchrist indicates, but in any case, "FDA, EPA, and TTB regulations" is entirely correct ...
- 80.3k
2
votes
Is it "John or Mary's house" or "John's or Mary's house"?
My solution. “The house of John or that of Mary” can be rewritten as
John's house or Mary's
Under the subheading compounds with pronouns, Wikipedia suggests a similar word order when comparing the ...
- 90.3k
2
votes
What would be the possessive of "Defendants Smith"?
EVEN AT THE RISK of earning the ire of some irritable member, I shall cuts the Gordian knot and go straight to the crux of your question: Is it "Defendants Smiths' argument" or is it "Defendants ...
- 7,326
2
votes
Should "children" or "children's" be used in "London's children('s) and family portrait photographer"?
To me, "children" sounds unacceptable as an attributive noun. Both "*children portrait" and "*children photographer" sound incorrect, so I don't see any way that "children and family portrait ...
- 80.3k
2
votes
Accepted
What is the genitive of "service"?
delivery service's terms and conditions
service's is pronounced "service-is"
- 438
2
votes
Variable's value / variable value / value of the variable
A variable may have many attributes. It possesses each of them, so it is definitely wrong to use 'the variable value' to express the meaning you require. That phrasing is wrong for another reason too, ...
- 3,703
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