23. The Truth about Apostrophes. English Grammar Lesson

[HISTROIKA]

Very informative video but I have a similar issue I’m not sure about, please could you advise?

Which is correct?

To trespass onto Alec’s land

To trespass onto Alec’s’ land

To trespass onto Alecs’ land

???

[mrthoth]

@HISTROIKA The first one.

[HISTROIKA]

@mrthoth Hi, thanks for getting back, that was my first thought to, but on consideration it does not appear be correct, i.e. should it not be spelt as it sounds phonetically as in ‘ Alec-sis ‘ land, and not Alecs land? sorry to sound stupid, English is my second language.

[mrthoth]

@HISTROIKA It is spelled as it sounds. The possessive of Alec is Alec's, and that is TWO syllables. Were his name Alex, on the other hand, the possessive is Alex's, and that is THREE syllables--AL-EX-ES.

[craigfromnewcastle]

Which is correct, please;

New Yorks Crime Families

New York's Crime Families

I thought apostrophes were for living things - not inanimate objects.

[mrthoth]

@craigfromnewcastle "New York's" is correct. Some stylists dislike it when the possessive form is used with inanimate things (like "the country's border"). But the solution they propose is not "the countrys border" (that is not English), but rather "the border of the country." "New York's crime families" violates no grammatical rule, but some people (not me!) think such use of the possessive form is gauche.

[craigfromnewcastle]

@mrthoth

Thank you.

I think maybe somewhere along the line I've taken something too literally - I wanted to write "New Yorks" but it didn't look right and the browser dictionary disagreed with it too :)

I thought the apostrophe could only be possession and contraction - so "Craig's illiteracy" - "New Yorks population" - as New York is a city and not a living thing.

Oh well, English - confusing since 1600 hheheheehe

[mrthoth]

@josechealamo It cannot be written Jonese's in the first place. If John and Martin Jones own a house, then it is the Joneses' house. If just John owns it, then it is Mr. Jones's house.

[EireBridestree]

haha i love your style of teaching. You 're funny

[Flawhound]

Thank you for your good teaching. There is much confusion regarding the apostrophe, especially when we find it being used not for possession but for the plural! Some experts have forecast that the apostrophe might soon become an indicator for the plural rather than the possessive. Perish the thought! As for Xerxes and Heracles and Pericles, and other famous names ending in s, I still prefer simply adding only the apostrophe to show possession. 

[draker66]

IM famous lol james is my name

[FOSTERFOX]

I friggin' love this guy!

[TheLarssan]

Thanks. :)

[sarayui]

I like your style. It is great!!!. You kept me awake.

Thank you soooo much.

[luketheduke1982]

biff simpson. nice.

[MadamePukengkay]

You in that tight shirt turn me on so much, I'm getting all wet and juicy .....

[noimbringingsexyback]

why the es??? if James's shoes then what about james surname?? the jameses' house? so the es has to be because it cant be jamess' and the house belongs to the james's? Oh bugger ive confused myself...hellllllppppppppppppp­ppp

[mrthoth]

If a family's surname is James, then if you have more than one member of that family, they are Jameses. Jameses is just an ordinary plural, like houses. So to make a possessive out of a plural that ends in s, one simply adds an apostrophe. The houses' value (the value of the houses), the Jameses' mansion (the mansion of the Jameses).

[SiPsicologia]

Very good teacher. GBU Mr. Thoth

[randomtiffanay]

Haha what's a grammarian?

LMAO

[rivuzk]

just great <3

[fearzone2000]

Can I say:

"Jones' s visiting Canada"

Is that right. I know that is not possessive.. .is the contraction of the verb TO BE.

[hillsad]

fearzone2000:

Would you ever say "Ben's visiting Canada?"

No, because that would mean something like "visiting Canada" is something like a place Ben owns.

When speaking we pronounce the word "is" together with a name, but it is not proper English.

[MusicSeason22]

i love it ur awsome plz make more videos

[thegrandpoobah1990]

You're wrong.

[KingNiche]

you are brilliant, and you sound like tom hanks

[willbraham]

MUAHAHAHAH! Cursed, you are.

[gold95]

You are hilarious.. great stuff.

[willbraham]

SANDORRRRR WILL EAT YOUR BABIE'S DIAPERS!!!

SANDOR should have his own youtube channel.

[PreetyLady]

SANDORRRR!

Haha very lucky waiter. :) I know understand apostrophes yayyy THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[josemandiaz]

Sandor should have obviously owned a mystical staff and not a "choice". Am i the only one that thinks this? I mean c'mon the guy's name is SANDOR! He's obviously some sort of worlock.

Clearly! I loved your participial video. It really helped me out.

[bbbobbbo77]

speaking of apostrophes, you've just made a mistake - it's "who names their..." and not "who name's their..."

[love2moshpit]

i dont udnerstand the owning part nor do i understand the entity part if you can please explain

[princessoftheleaf]

Thank you very much!! it really helped...keep up please..

[boloforce]

Brilliant! keep up the good work!

[Rypervenche]

That was great. Just don't write about Xerxes, haha. You have sparked my interest in English grammar. Oh wow, I just finished the video. I never knew that about plural family names. You are awesome. I love grammar now :) I've been learning other languages, but I think it's time I perfected my native tongue! Thank you so much!!

[Hateshiganai]

Agreed

[fumala420]

How cool. You have a really great understanding of grammar. You explain complicated things in a way that makes them seem very easy. Thanks!

[Hateshiganai]

Agreed

[jemcay]

very lucky waiter -- too funny! and don't write about xerxes or any of these, just forget about them... oh, man, who knew that an English lesson could be so hilarious?

[kielstadt]

Sorry, but you a big gramatical mistake when you wrote THE people to that word you never must put THE before it.

[BBallbuster]

Please, please do something on the use of the comma.

[mrthoth]

Done! You can find three videos on punctuation by doing a YouTube search for the following terms: restrictive non-restrictive .

[knetworkz]

"But just don't, don't write about Xerxes. Or, you know, Pereclese, Heraclese, or any of these (the -ese)."

Having watched a few of your videos now, I can't help but think your sense of humour must drive some people entirely insane. The rest of us think it's pretty funny. :)

I simply enjoy witnessing passion for the English language. There's nothing else quite like listening to an English fanatic binging on run-on sentences to make a point about how not to bastardize the language. :D

[knetworkz]

Ah geez, had to include a misspelling there. I know of the verb "binge", but not one named "bing". So, we'll talk about bingeing, not binging.

[callthisclarity]

very helpful!

my boyfriend thinks you're hot!

[expatted]

Sure. Grammarians with passion are kinda sexy.

[davideugene]

Excellent!

[andicar177]

Hi mrthoth

Thanks a lot for your useful English Class. What about a lesson about those dammed Phrasal Verbs, Prepositional Verbs and Idims??

Greeting from Italy

Carlos

[Stepside]

So just to get this perfectly straight, if it's a proper noun we use the "apostrophe s". For example, my name is Chris, so I would use something like: "Chris's shoes are brown." Correct? Is the the ONLY time a word ending in "S" would end in "s's"?

[mrthoth]

Thanks for your question. A proper noun is treated just like any other noun; there are no special rules for making proper nouns possessive. Plural nouns ending in "s"--proper or not--are made possessive by adding an apostrophe; all other nouns--proper or not--are made possessive by adding an apostrophe followed by an "s". So, "Chris's shoes" is correct, and so is "the wus's excuse."

[hickok45]

Good job. Very difficult subject. Girls' basketball and boys' soccer are very troublesome issues for many, too. Banners are hanging all over the country in secondary school gyms displaying this mistake!

I like to break down this subject into two major parts: first determine the number (singular or plural) and actually write/type the word in that form. Then just apply the proper rule for possession. It's a no-brainer, or at least it should be.

[EnglishRyan]

"Very lucky waiter" "Don't write about xerxes" haha

Great apostrophe summary!

[derjoshder]

Wow, that definitely *is* nice!

I've recommended your videos to my pupils, whom I teach English in Germany.

But not only did I want you to know that, hoping you take pride in it, last but not least I wanted to say *thank you very much*! I really appreciate what you do for the community!

With best regards,

DerJoshDer, Germany

[mrthoth]

Daß mein Unterricht Ihnen als geeignet für die Deutschen, mit ihrem berühmten, einem Amerikaner so einschüchternden Beharren auf Logik und Genauigket, vorkommt, ist für mich eine besondere Delikatesse.

[fadfan]

you're really o.t.t! you're as clear as a bell. Not only do you actually explain things plainly but you definitely are into it all when you're at the board! just upload some other lessons, advanced ones! good job!

[pazzamex]

I would love to study under you, you make the subject so interesting. (and I am glad my name is not jones) :)

Steve

[hasmos]

Thanks. Great work.

[kaliko70]

Very well put! Thanks Yossarian!

[sonata1992]

Thank you very much. It was very helpful.

[baraki5252]

thank you for the videos but do you have more of these??

[srikantravirala]

Your concepts are strong.:)

[bechamimi]

I concur. This video was very helpful.

[jitterbop]

The videos you produce are great. Thanks.