Possessives and Attributives
Q. Which is the correct singular possessive form? “Professor Davis’ class” or “Professor Davis’s class”? My history professor specifically requests our guide be the CMOS. Am I wrong that CMOS promotes both usages in this case? Answer »
Q. I just received a thank-you card from a recently married couple. Their card said, “Thank you for coming to John and I’s wedding.” I know this is incorrect, but what is the proper way of saying this? Wouldn’t “John’s and my wedding” suggest two separate weddings instead of one joint wedding? But “Thank you for coming to John and my wedding” doesn’t sound correct, either. Please help. This might drive me nuts. Answer »
Q. I’m writing a book about Death Valley National Park, and not sure what style to use for place-names that include possessives. The National Park Service omits apostrophes from all names—Scottys Castle, Dantes View, Devils Golf Course, etc.—which looks wrong to me. On the other hand, if I use the apostrophes my book won’t match the Park Service maps. What would you suggest? Answer »
Q. What is the proper way to cite information found in a footnote? Take, for example, the following footnote: “2. It is however to be observed that in the given proposition there is a certain ambiguity.” I wish to cite this in the footnote of my own paper. In some works, I’ve seen what I suspect to be the same thing accomplished by appending the page number with “f,” e.g., 67f. Answer »
Q. I’m editing a book about employment training programs, and I can’t decide how to treat the term One-Stop Career Centers. I capitalize in that instance, but what about when the author says “one-stops” or “one-stop centers”? I am inclined to capitalize only when the entire title is used, but I’m having trouble sticking to that decision. Can you please tell me what you would do? Answer »
Q. I’ve encountered a sentence that is giving me more confusion than it should. The sentence in question is this: “Enjoyment is not as an important function for courting as it is for dating.” I cannot figure out if it should read “as important a function.” I think if I could figure out what grammatical function “as” is serving in this sentence, I could make sense of it, but I have been staring at it long enough to addle my brain. Answer »
Q. We’re hosting a golf tournament where each hole has a refreshment station sponsored by a corporate vendor. For each of the hole signs, we wrote “Refreshments Sponsor” and then put the corporate logo on it. My coworker says each sign should read “Refreshment Sponsor” with the argument that you wouldn’t say “Beverages Sponsor.” What say you? Answer »
Q. What is the correct punctuation for an event or location for a group? I have the following examples: delegates’ reception, members’ forum, speakers’ room. Is it correct to always use the apostrophe in this way? Thanks. Answer »
Q. Our pastor’s surname is Lentz. He is married with children, so there are several people named Lentz living in his house. When an event is scheduled to occur at his home, should we refer to it as “the Lentz’ house,” “the Lentz’s house,” or simply “the Lentz house”? Answer »
Q. I’m working on a legal document in which the defined term “Approved Services” could mean one service or more than one. When I am referencing the “Approved Services’ signal” throughout an agreement, how can either the singular or the plural possessive of the word be written? “Approved Service(’)s(’)” seems right to me, since the apostrophe is what can be used for either meaning, but it looks weird. The author of the document uses “Approved Service(s)’ signals” throughout, but this doesn’t show that the apostrophe is what is in question based on either possible usage. Answer »
Q. When forming the possessive for a proper noun rendered with initialism, should I use ’s, or, because the last word rendered by the initialism is “Services,” should I treat it as a noun plural in form but singular in meaning, and add the apostrophe only? My instinct is to write “FIS's customers” because, plural services or no, FIS is one company. However, on that company's website I see that they form the possessive with the apostrophe only: “FIS' competitive edge.” Thank you for any advice. Answer »
Q. I have a sports-related question resulting from a recent conversation with a friend during a baseball game. I maintain that the proper term for that administrative unit overseeing sports at a college or university should be “Athletics Department,” but my friend contended that it is “Athletic Department.” Who’s right? Answer »
Q. I’m trying to find a definitive answer to whether an inanimate object can take the possessive form. I have been told that an object cannot possess something, so the ’s form should not be used. Instead of “the vehicle’s speed,” it should be “the speed of the vehicle.” I understand the rule, but can’t find anything here to support it. Answer »
Q. In section 6.23 of the 16th edition, the following example is used to illustrate an appositive with a comma: “Ursula’s son, Clifford, had been a student of Norman Maclean’s.” I know that the usage displayed in the last three words of the sentence has become mainstream, but surely it has not become correct? Answer »
Q. What are the rules surrounding the use of fiction and nonfiction and fictional and nonfictional? I know the former are nouns and the latter adjectives, but can you say “a fiction passage”? I suspect not—though I hear it all the time. Answer »
Q. When referring to the house belonging to my wife and me, I have trouble deciding between “Libby and my house” or “Libby’s and my house.” Which is correct? Answer »
Q. Is there an acceptable way to form the possessive of words such as Macy’s and Sotheby’s? Sometimes rewording to avoid the possessive results in less felicitous writing. Answer »
Q. I am proofing a training manual. It’s labeled “Participant’s Manual.” Shouldn’t it be “Participants’ Manual”? Thanks. Answer »
Q. The following sentences were written by a student. “The three of us went to the Rangers’ hockey game. The leprechaun is the Celtics’ mascot.” Are apostrophes needed or do the sentences contain attributive nouns? Answer »
Q. The information posted on the Possessives and Attributives web page comes close to answering my question, but I would appreciate a more detailed explanation: Did we have dinner at the Smiths or at the Smiths’? I am tempted to omit the apostrophe if I consider the preposition “at” equivalent to German bei + dative plural, French chez, Italian da, etc. But if “at the Smiths’” is shorthand for “at the Smiths’ house,” perhaps I need an apostrophe. Is “Smiths” functioning as a genitive or an attributive adjective? What if, instead of “Smiths,” I refer to a group of people (residents, occupants) by some other word, e.g., We had dinner at the neighbors, Canadians, etc? Answer »
Q. A friend and I were looking at a poster that read “guys apartment.” I believe it should read “guys’ apartment.” She claims that it should read “guys’s apartment” and that the CMOS specifically gives the example of “guys’s” to make “guys” possessive. I looked through every section on possessives and did not find the word “guys’s” or any rule that would make this correct. Some people say “you guys’s apartment”—did I overlook the word “guys’s” as used in the attributive position? (I don’t think I did.) Answer »
Q. I somewhat often find myself struggling to find a grammatical construct for adding information about a possessive, particularly where the additional information is nonsubstantive enough that I don’t want to dedicate an entire sentence to presenting it. An example is: “The school’s, which is across the street, bell rings at three o’clock.” I expect that the answer is to change my phrasing. If anyone can guide me out of this desperate quandary, I’m quite certain that it’s my heroes at the CMOS. Answer »
Q. How does one make the following names possessive (and all first names that end in “s”)? James, Iris. Answer »
Q. My editor keeps correcting my possessive. Which is correct? (One person owns the house but several people live there.) We went to the Kerr’s or We went to the Kerrs’ or We went to the Kerrs. I used the first one and she says it’s wrong. Thank you so much. Answer »
Q. My fourteen-year-old stepson claims that the newest version of Microsoft Word “corrects” the contraction “it’s” by removing the apostrophe. He also claims that they “looked it up” online and that the rule has been changed so that neither the contraction nor the possessive has an apostrophe. I explained to him that the contraction and possessive of “its” may be one of the most difficult rules for people to learn because many people want to believe there should be an apostrophe for the possessive form. Are you aware of a so-called change? I never trust software and I am trying to convince him that he should not trust it either. Thank you for your time. Answer »
Previous Page | Next Page