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Grammar
Introduction to the possessive
Apostrophes can help show when something belongs to someone. Paige and David explain how!
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Does the word its' exist.(0 votes)
No. It does not exist, as it does not indicate plurals (it is at the end of the word), it is not a contraction (again, it is at the end of the word), and there is no noun "its" to make a possessive out of (the cats' furballs, etc.).(2 votes)
Khan Academy said this:
"The exception to this rule is when you use pronouns (it → its, he → his, she → her/hers, me → my/mine, they → their/theirs, our → our/ours). Apostrophes are not used to show possession with pronouns."
I am so confused if this is true. I have learned that if someone owns something, add an apostrophe before the s. Even if the word "it" owns something.
Ex: That is it's seed.
From the quote up above, they say pronouns DON'T have an apostrophe. Which is correct?(2 votes)
Exactly, David. The correct way to write, " That is it's seed," is, " That is its seed."(2 votes)
If I say "Oh my friend is still in the mall" ( How do I put a Apostrophe In "is still" ) or it is normal?(5 votes)
If you want to shorten it, you need to say "Oh, my friend's still in the mall." You do not shorten is still, you shorten my friend is.
Hope this helped, even if it was 6 years ago!(2 votes)
- At1:53David writes "Alexander Hamilton's surfboard." Would it be correct to say "Alexander's Hamilton surfboard."?(1 vote)
It's not likely. Alexander Hamilton was a real person. So, while it's possible he's talking about a guy named Alexander with a Hamilton brand surfboard, chances are he means the historical figure (or he's just using the name). Hope this helps!(7 votes)
what happened to the word ends with 2s's.(3 votes)
I wear glasses. Sometimes the little screw that holds the earpiece to the spectacles piece gets loose and falls out. Then I have to look all around for my glasses' screw. (There, did THAT work?)(3 votes)
I just wanted to know what is the possessive form it(4 votes)- Good. You came to the right place. I hope that what the lesson contained satisfied your curiosity.(0 votes)
- why apostrophe
s??
like, in "This is David's cursed skull"(3 votes)- apostrophe is used to show/state possessiveness like:
"Ananya's phone is really expensive"
here apostrophe shows the possessor (Ananya) possesses the phone which is (really expensive), hope you find it helpful :)(2 votes)
Is there any difference between using 's and using of?
Ex:
This is David's jacket.
This is the jacket of David.
This is basically the same to a non-native speaker.
Any explanation?
Thanks(3 votes)- They are basically the same. English possessives can be done either way. Your second example sounds like the English version of Spanish syntax to me. It's not wrong, it's just the "longer way around."(2 votes)
- I don't get it. What happens if the word ends in 2 s's, like dress?(2 votes)
- In addition to what Angel said, if you are saying multiple classes own something you would say "classes' ". This would be the plural possessive form of "class".(2 votes)
How can you say cheese in possesion(1 vote)- For every singular word I can think of, the possessive is formed by adding an apostrophe, then "s". So, if you were talking about the aroma of a cheese, you would say "the cheese's aroma"(5 votes)
1:53Video transcript
- [Voiceover] Hello
grammarians, hello Paige. - [Voiceover] Hi David. - [Voiceover] In the driver's seat. - [Voiceover] So, Paige,
today, it is my understanding that we are gonna talk
about the possessive. - [Voiceover] That's right. - [Voiceover] What even is
the possessive in English? What does that mean when we say that? What does it mean to possess something? - [Voiceover] Right, so that means to own something or to have something. - [Voiceover] Okay, so this
relates to the apostrophe, in that we use the
apostrophe in many cases, we use the apostrophe s in
many cases to show possession. Right, so if I were
talking about, there are a couple of ways to show that something belongs to someone or
something in English, like I could say, the carrot that belonged to that rabbit was delicious. - [Voiceover] Yeah, but
that's pretty complicated, and can make sentences much
longer than they need to be. - [Voiceover] So what's
a simpler way of saying the carrot that belonged to
the rabbit was delicious. - [Voiceover] You can say something like the rabbit's carrot was delicious. - [Voiceover] Oh, interesting,
so you're actually containing, there's like
a lot of information that's contained within the
rabbit's, that little thing. 'Cause you're expressing the relationship between the rabbit and the carrot, just with that little apostrophe s, that contains so much information in it. - [Voiceover] Yeah, the
whole idea of the rabbit owning the carrot comes
from that apostrophe s. - [Voiceover] That's super cool. - [Voiceover] Yeah,
it's a pretty big deal. - [Voiceover] So this
doesn't just apply to common nouns, like rabbits, this can also apply to proper nouns, like people, or countries, or businesses, or whatever. - [Voiceover] Totally.
- [Voiceover] Or movies. - [Voiceover] Yeah, anything, I think - [Voiceover] Okay, so
to pull a completely random figure from American history, let's say Alexander
Hamilton had a surfboard. - [Voiceover] Okay. - [Voiceover] So, we could say, using the apostrophe s construction,
we could refer to Alexander Hamilton's surfboard, right? - [Voiceover] Right, the surfboard that belongs to Alexander Hamilton. - [Voiceover] Alright, so that
seems pretty straightforward. If we wanna show possession,
we just add an apostrophe s. Is that true in all cases though? - [Voiceover] Well, okay, not always. - [Voiceover] Okay, so there's a wrinkle. - [Voiceover] Of course,
there's always a wrinkle. - [Voiceover] Introduce
for us this wrinkle, Paige. - [Voiceover] So, there's an exception to this rule of using apostrophe s for possession when
you're using a pronoun. - [Voiceover] Ah!
- [Voiceover] Right. - [Voiceover] So, rabbit
and Alexander Hamilton are both nouns, but there are pronouns like it, or he, or she, where you don't use an apostrophe to show possessive. - [Voiceover] So if I wanted to say, that surfboard is his, there's no apostrophe in there, right? - [Voiceover] Right. - [Voiceover] Or, we
could just as easily say his surfboard, and I think
that's the same as saying that surfboard is Alexander Hamilton's. And you can see that there's
this real, it makes sense to want to put a possessive
apostrophe s in there, right, but that's not what you do. - [Voiceover] Right. - [Voiceover] This is this one kind of obnoxious exception to the rule. So, for possessive pronouns, they don't, they just, they never take apostrophes. - [Voiceover] That's right. - [Voiceover] Okay, so
the possessive in English usually formed with apostrophe s, The rabbit's carrot was delicious, Alexander Hamilton's surfboard, but when we're talking
about possessive pronouns like his, or hers, or ours, or theirs, or my, or its, no apostrophes are needed. Possessive pronouns
never take apostrophes. - [Voiceover] You got it. - [Voiceover] Sweet, thanks Paige. - [Voiceover] Thank you. - [Voiceover] You can
learn anything, David out. - [Voiceover] Paige out.