Klarinet Archive - Posting 000106.txt from 2000/12

From: Gary Truesdail <gir@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] War of the Tony`s
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 11:30:27 -0500

The final S indicates plurality, the apostrophe indicates possession, Exception:
when the word itself ends with an s the apostrophe indicates possession of a
singular owner (Jones'), to indicate possession of many owners (Jones's) a second
must be added and the two S's are separated with a you know what. In a
contraction the apostrophe is a place holder for one or more missing letters.

ShawThings@-----.com wrote:

> In a message dated 2/12/00 4:41:57 PM AUS Eastern Daylight Time,
> JJONES@-----.EDU writes:
>
> > Isn't the apostrophe in clarinettists' indicative of possession and not
> > plurality? Considering that it is the only difference between the plural
> > form
> > and the plural possessive, it would follow most logically that that is the
> > case.
> > Does anyone have a book of English grammar to confirm or correct this?
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Jennifer
>
> Dear Jennifer, I think you're probably right. Knowledge of English grammar is
> the preserve of a tiny minority. Perhaps we should revert to Latin, which is
> completely dead language, when we want to be precise.
> Cheers!
> Tim.
>
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