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Question (English type) on possessive pronoun?

G

gwstang

Member
Hell, I did not care for English classes in college.
(BS in Biology/minor Chemistry '83 after 4 years US Navy (Auburn University, War Damn Eagle and Anchors Away, By God), so you know how science majors were about English people... We didn't speak the same language...lol :roll )
I did like Old English Literature I and II and Business writing class. I will concede that the older I grew, the more I respected those that have a great command of the written word!

When writing someones (there it is already in "someones") place like "Randys tent, should there be an apostrophe before or after the "s" ? I have, for some reason, thought it was after the "s". Before the "s", would be like "Randy's " and would be a shortened thing (don't know what that would be called either) for "Randy is". I would like to get this straight in my feeble mind (at 55). Never too old to learn! Thanks, Gary the clueless.
 
Before the "s" unless the word ends in "s" then after. Randy's as "Randy is" should be said "He's". Otherwise keep it as "Randy is".
 
OK...so....you can have it's (as in, it's nice to write to you, meaning, it is nice to write to you). You can also have its (as in, the dog ate its own poop, meaning, the dog ate his own poop). You would not want to say the dog ate it is own poop, hence no apostrophe s.


Using Randy as an example, you can have Randy's (as in, Randy's dog eats poop, meaning the dog that belongs to Randy eats poop). You would not want to say Randy is dog eats poop. Or, if you must, Randy's tent, which means the tent that belongs to Randy--showing possession, in both cases.


However, use Sellers as an example (as in Mark Sellers, or if you actually know someone named Mark Randys). Because Sellers already ends in an s, you would need to say Mark Sellers' dog eats poop. You can't say Mark Seller's dog eats poop because the last name is Sellers with an 's'; not 'Seller.' But here, you still are just wanting to convey that the dog that belongs to Mark Sellers eats poop.


To go further, you could say Randy's going camping (as in, Randy is going camping). So, we are back to where we started, but we now know that Randy's (as in Randy's tent) can mean either that Randy owns the tent or Randy's (as in, Randy's going camping) can mean that Randy is going camping.


The answer is that it depends on the spelling of the word and the context of the sentence. And, this is why the world needs English majors.
 
"blue65coupe" said:
WhatTF is a tome and wheretf is Mark?
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I'm here...NOW. That is what happens when you ask a "smart college type" to explain proper grammar! I figure she'd swoop in, answer the question and move on. How was I supposed to know she'd spend 30 minutes typing an explanation? I mean, she had to go back 5 times just to make sure the grammar was correct!

Shoulda known better than to have an "egghead" answer a question on "Man's" forum :hide
 
Also, I know someone whose last name is spelled Owens. So I would use an apost. after the s to signify ownership. Owens' house for instance. But would that be pronounced as written or as "Owensez" house? I would thing Owens' would be singular but Owenses would be plural? How would the Owenses house (plural) with more than one Owens living there, be spelled?
 
That answers the singular question but how about the plural? I had to add to that question to the post above yours.
 
"gwstang" said:
That answers the singular question but how about the plural? I had to add to that question to the post above yours.
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It's freakin' English dude, do you expect it to make sense or something?


Still Owens.
 
Haha, I live in the deep south (central Alabama) and when I went into the Navy and had to be around a whole herd of "Yankees", they laughed quite often at my southern drawl. I sort of lost it somewhat over the years. Damn Yankees! :sarc
 
"blue65coupe" said:
If the plural of goose is geese, what is the plural of moose?
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Or deer for that matter. I think you would talk about a "herd" of deer for plural. Heck I don't know. I just know they are tasty in meat loaf or roast! :thu
 
"gwstang" said:
Hey, I'm trying to learn here. You want the swmbo teacher above to spank you or something...lol :part
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Good luck on that!
 
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