Plural and Possessives

[rareboy]

There is a virus sweeping the globe that must have hatched in the school system over the last decade'

More and more, I see people using apostrophes in the plural instead of possessive
nouns and pronouns.

Why has this come about, he ask's?

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

There is a virus sweeping the globe that must have hatched in the school system over the last decade'

More and more, I see people using apostrophes in the plural instead of possessive
nouns and pronouns.

Why has this come about, he ask's?

I have a theory, but could you provide us with example's first?

 

[treanir]

I dont' know, but what really make's my blood boil is that they're are people whom mind grammar. And stuff.

 

[RationalLunacy]

We do not have this plague is Ami'sh country.

 

[Telstra]

i don't understand ..........

 

[3nipples]

It's a Chinese plot to introduce ideograms to the globe, one stick at a time.

 

[gsdx]

It's the gay agenda, of course. It couldn't possibly be caused by stupidity and ignorance. . . and an educational system which fails dismally.

 

[Telstra]

why not man and mans
and woman and womans anyway ?

 

[JetSetJake]

It's a Chinese plot to introduce ideograms to the globe, one stick at a time.

am loving this answer!

 

[dpnice]

The French language doesn't have the possesive apostrophe you have to say 'the car belonging to madame' rather than 'madame's car'.

Yet somehow the apostrophe has invaded the publicity world and you see it in shop signs, adverts and nearly every English word which ends with an 's'.

 

[G-Lexington]

Language isn't something decided on by scholars. It's a series of sounds and symbols agreed on by people as a whole. The world has decided it likes the way apostrophes look, so I'm guessing we're eventually going to use them for all words that end in S. Adapt or die.

Lex

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

The French language doesn't have the possesive apostrophe you have to say 'the car belonging to madame' rather than 'madame's car'.

Yet somehow the apostrophe has invaded the publicity world and you see it in shop signs, adverts and nearly every English word which ends with an 's'.

The word "madame" In English and Dutch generally means "the lady who runs the whorehouse".

 

[gsdx]

Language isn't something decided on by scholars.

But, more and more, it seems to be decided upon by illiterates and the rest of us are being forced to endure it.

Yet another example of the failing educational systems.

 

[Swellegant]

The woman who writes the church bulletin, and routinely peppers it with inappropriate apostrophes, was sitting in front of me yesterday morning... it took all my energy to not rap her on the back of the head. I suppose I could have simply pointed out the error to her, but I couldn't think of a way of expressing myself that didn't end with "you dumbass."

You know, those of us who notice these things take a lot of flak from people when we try to correct them. But the bottom line is this: written language does not evolve at the same speed as spoken language because there isn't a person there from whom we can catch clues and contexts. Written language has to follow the rules of writing so that it can be read quickly and cleanly. I shouldn't have to pause in my reading to puzzle out what the writer is talking about.

Rather than teach myself to ignore apostrophes, which took me some time to learn how to use in the first place, I'm more likely to just dismiss the writer and stop reading. I try to have a certain amount of patience with those for whom English is a second or even fourth language, but my patience only extends so far. Eventually I just tune out.

 

[pwrbarboy]

I always find it somewhat amusing to see a teacher's MySpace page filled with plural/possessive errors and things like "alot" and "alright."

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

Don't loose hope. Girl's Rock is no error. It means Mickey exulting over his status as Minnie's pillar of strength. Or the size of one ball beneath the buttons.

Doesn't it mean Mickey will stone Minnie for her perceived infidelity?

 

[hermanding]

spanish does not use it either
la casa de diego is david's house . but... since the subject has been introduced,
please tell me about this´
for Mr. Jones - does one write
mr Jones' house or mr. Jones's house. does one ever do -s's-?
ding

 

[giorgiobaby]

do you all have to talk about me when I'm not even in the room?

 

[JetSetJake]

for Mr. Jones - does one write
mr Jones' house or mr. Jones's house. does one ever do -s's-?
ding

It should be Mr Jones's house.

The ' is used without an "s" when the sound before it already makes "is/iz" to avoid doubling it. For example:

"Mr Dennis' house" and not "Mr Dennis's house"

This makes for a more fluid pronunciation by using a slightly longer "s" instead of a second "is/iz" sound.

Just in case anybody is interested - the possessive "s" is called the Anglo-Saxon genitive because it comes from the Germanic genitive case. Unlike other languages, English is not very inflected and does not have lots of cases (or endings) like other languages do. Therefore I think we should try to preserve this particular feature of English

 

[Yooper]

Oh's no's! How's can's we's possible's stop's this's trend's?

Do you mean like the "grocer's sign apostrophe"? ie, Apple's and orange's.

Best one I ever saw:

'Vine Ripened Banana's'