Sage-Tips

What is the possessive in English grammar?

A possessive noun is a noun that possesses something—i.e., it has something. In most cases, a possessive noun is formed by adding an apostrophe +s to the noun, or if the noun is plural and already ends in s, only an apostrophe needs to be added.

Why does English use s for possessive?

The ‘s’ at the end of a word indicating possession (“The king’s fashion sense”) probably comes from the Old English custom of adding ‘-es’ to singular genitive masculine nouns (in modern English, “The kinges fashion sense”). In this theory, the apostrophe stands in for the missing ‘e’.

Does English have a possessive case?

In English, possessive words or phrases exist for nouns and most pronouns, as well as some noun phrases. For nouns, noun phrases, and some pronouns, the possessive is generally formed with the suffix -‘s, but in some cases just with the addition of an apostrophe to an existing s. …

What is possessive s short for?

‘ An apostrophe should not be added to an abbreviation to form its plural, but an apostrophe along with an ‘s’ is used for possessive forms of abbreviations whether they are singular or plural.

Is SA clitoris possessive?

Since the phrasal possessive requires a clitic, it is most parsimonious to assume the clitic construction also for all regular possessives, i.e. (6) in preference to (7) or (8).

How many grammatical cases are there in English?

Case refers to the form a word takes and its function in a sentence. The English language has just three cases: subjective, possessive and objective. Most nouns, many indefinite pronouns and “it” and“you” have distinctive forms only for the possessive case.

Is apostrophe a letter?

The apostrophe (‘ or ‘) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritical mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet and some other alphabets. In English, the apostrophe is used for three basic purposes: The marking of the omission of one or more letters, e.g. the contraction of “do not” to “don’t”.

Where did apostrophe S originate?

The apostrophe probably originated in the early 16th Century – either in 1509, in an Italian edition of Petrarch, or in 1529, courtesy of French printer Geoffroy Tory, who seemingly had a fondness for creating linguistic marks, as he is also credited with inventing the accent and the cedilla.

How do you write the apostrophe s in Korean?

In the English language, adding an “apostrophe + s” or “apostrophe” to a 명사 (noun) is one of the frequently used ways to indicate 관계 (relation) or 소유 (ownership) of something or someone. In the Korean language, this Korean particle “-의” is frequently used to mark the 소유격형태 (possessive form) of a noun.

Is Chris’s grammatically correct?

The truth is that Chris takes just an apostrophe only if you follow the rules in the The Associated Press Stylebook. In other style guides, Chris takes an apostrophe and an s: Chris’s. Form the possessive of singular nouns and abbreviations by adding an apostrophe and an s.

Why does American English sound so different from British English?

5 big reasons why US and UK English sound so different 1. American English is actually older 2. British English is more like French 3. American spelling was invented as a form of protest 4. American English likes to drop words completely 5. The two types of English have borrowed words from different languages Share this article

Do Americans pronounce words more like Shakespeare than Brits?

Americans today pronounce some words more like Shakespeare than Brits do… but it’s in 18th-Century England where they’d really feel at home. It makes for a great story: when settlers moved from England to the Americas from the 17th Century, their speech patterns stuck in place.

Why is the word king so important in religion?

Words related to rex appear in Germanic tongues too, such as our bishop-ric, and the German Koenigreich (kingdom). King has always meant male leaders and reflected a spectrum of actual power – from the Great King of Persia whom the Greeks called THE King, down to “I’m the King of the castle”. The word king is important in religion.

Why do British people change their rhotic sounds?

Meanwhile, back in wealthy southern cities of the UK, people from the new higher classes wanted a way to distinguish themselves from everyone else, so they started changing their rhotic speech to a soft r sound, saying words like winter as “win-tuh” instead of “win-terr”.