> On Wednesday 23 January 2002 05:05 pm, PCBman wrote:
>> Use 's when the subject is plural (more than one).
>>
>> Use s' when you are referring to something that belongs
>> to the person or thing.
> Wow, are English grammar rules so different from US grammar
> rules? I hold a BA in English from a US university, and the
> rules are not at all similar to that. Here are the rules in
> my circles:
>
> Use 's for singular possessive (i.e. he owns it).
> Use s' for plural possessive (i.e. they own it).
> Use s [no apostrophe] for plural.
>
> I had thought these rules were canonical, but perhaps they
> vary from English-speaking country to English-speaking
> country...?
AFAIAC...
...and I'm a Scotsman...
...and it is often contended that the general standard of English
grammer is higher in Scotland than in England (though having spent
about 13 years living in Glasgow, I find this difficult to believe)...
...you are right Aron, that is:
> Use 's for singular possessive (i.e. he owns it).
> Use s' for plural possessive (i.e. they own it).
> Use s [no apostrophe] for plural.
The rules are precisely so in British English. Probably also in all
other flavours of English but I can't be sure of that.
Also to be considered are those cases when the apostrophe signifies an
abbreviation e.g. he's for he has, the situation with singular
possessive when the word on its own ends with an s (for my money this
takes on the same form as plural possessive but I am not 100% sure this
is grammatically correct) and then there is the its issue...
mark.
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