23. The Truth about Apostrophes. English Grammar Lesson

Straight talk from Yossarian the Grammarian about apostrophes and why "the Jones's house" is wrong and "the Joneses' house" is right. English grammar

Category:

Education

Tags:

• grammar
• punctuation
• apostrophe
• usage
• correct
• proper
• writing
• grammer
• sandor
• form
• yossarian
• grammarian
• possessives

[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