THE POSSESSIVE

5 THE POSSESSIVE

he possessive or genitive is marked in writing in English by adding an (s) and an apostrophe (’). It takes two forms in English: boy’s, boys’. Learners sometimes fail to use the right possessive form, confuse between the two forms and occasionally replace the apostrophe with other punctuation marks (see below). Let us irst go over a few tips on how it is used in English, relying on examples from mainstream British and American publications, and then discuss the errors you may make when using the possessive in English:

5.1 he possessive form in English is used with nouns, representing people, animals or things: US President Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, arrived in the region

on Monday. (BBC) Japan’s Nikkei index shed 3.1%. (BBC)

he world’s biggest bond investor… (BBC)

he country’s central bank said it would inject more than $20bn (£13bn) in short-term loans to commercial banks to boost liquidity. (BBC) He said another ive people had been rescued from the building’s balcony. (BBC) He moved the newspaper’s operations to a new skyscraper on 42nd Street at Longacre Square. (NY Times)

5.2 he possessive form (’s) is placed after names of people ending in an (s). Prince Charles’s wife emerges from Diana’s shadow. (Reuters)

If you missed James’s show on BBC Two last night, then catch it here on the BBC iPlayer. (BBC)

5.3 It is possible to add only an apostrophe or an apostrophe and an (s) to the possessive form of singular nouns representing things and ending in an (s):

N.Y. Times’ Dowd Admits Lifting Blogger’s Words (AP headline)

he New York Times’s Green Inc. Has a New Name and Mission (NY Times headline)

5.4 Plural nouns get only the apostrophe: GATT seeks to tie all the dogs’ tails together. (Scientiic American)

During the Members’ Forum Period you may also present any questions. (FT) What happened to the readers’ comment forum? (Washington Post)

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5.5 Acronyms and abbreviations are treated like singular nouns.

A weak government might not be able to implement policies quickly to reduce the UK’s high budget deicit. (BBC) Congress Takes Aim at Wall St.’s Wild Trading (NY Times headline) OPEC’s producers have since stuck to a rigorous playbook. (NY Times) US’s Geithner is to discuss Greece with G7 colleagues. (Reuters) Companies fail UN’s Global Compact. (FT)

he BBC’s Jonny Dymond in Brussels says… (BBC)

5.6 In the case of joint ownership it is preferable to give the possessive form to the inal name only:

Kym and Jack’s wedding day in pix (BBC headline)

he series inale features the return of Captain John and Jack’s brother Gray. (BBC)

he weapons threat was key to Blair and Bush’s case for war. (BBC)

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NOTE he rule in 5.6 might have exceptions. When two nouns are in joint ownership, it is possible for both to have the possessive form:

he fact that Blair’s and Bush’s governments face parallel but separate inquiries from their own legislatures operates, in some ways… (Time)

5.7 Add (’s) to plural nouns not ending in (s): Classic editions of children’s folk tales… (NY Times)

Geno Auriemma laments the lack of attention women’s basketball receives. (NY Times)

5.8 In case of inanimate nouns which are plural in form but singular in meaning (i.e. physics, mathematics, measles, news, shingles, diabetes, acoustics, species, crosswords, General Motors, the United States), you may add an apostrophe if you follow the manual of style and usage of major U.S. publications, particularly he Associated Press. If you follow the BBC, the standard bearer of British English (BrE), and even he New York Times, the standard bearer of American English (AmE), there is no need for the apostrophe:

We do not have mathematics diiculties. (BBC) Using an applying mathematics website (BBC)

he number of measles cases continues to rise. (BBC) United States wealth has plunged 12 percent since 2007. (NY Times) General Motors proits decrease during 12 months (NY Times)

NOTE You may come across the words mathematics, measles, United States and General Motors in the above sentence written with an apostrophe in AmE (mathematics’ rules, measles’ cases, United States’ wealth and General Motors’ proits).

NOTE When writing English try to avoid the personalization of inanimate objects. herefore, using the possessive excessively with inanimate objects is not recommended in English. Try to give preference to the of construction in cases involving inanimate nouns. For example, write rules of mathematics instead of mathematics rules and cases of measles instead of measles cases.

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5.9 he (s) and the apostrophe are not the only markers to express the possessive (genitive case) in English. here is a close similarity between the meaning of a noun in the possessive form and the same noun in which the possession is expressed by of construction (the of- genitive). he choice between them, grammarians say, is mostly an issue of gender and style. However, there are a few rules. he (s) and the apostrophe are normally reserved for personal nouns, higher animals and geographical names. he of construction is mainly reserved for inanimate nouns:

Teacher’s Notes are available to support most programmes. (BBC) Book’s notes are available to support most programmes. Q Notes of the book are available to support most programmes. Q Notes from the book are available to support most programmes. R Book notes are available to support most programmes. R

EXERCISE Here are a few samples of the pitfalls you may fall into when using the posessive form

in English:

5.10 In the following, there is a diference between founder’s and founders’. he diference is simple but afects meaning a great deal. Is the writer talking about the families of one founder or more than one founder? Try to be extra cautious with the singular and plural forms of nouns indicating ownership. Replacing founders’ with a possessive pronoun and using the plural form founders solves the ambiguity. In fact founder’s is wrong because there is no indication of possession or ownership there:

A large fraction of the world’s publicly traded irms are controlled by their founder’s or members of the founders’ families. Q

A large fraction of the world’s publicly traded irms are controlled by their founders or members of their families. R

5.11 he possessive form is not the only construction in English indicating ownership.

he of construction is one of them. Another is the possessive form of English pronouns (see Chapter 11). here is nothing wrong with the following from the grammar viewpoint, but the sentence will read much better through the use of the of construction or a possessive pronoun:

Chapter 13 concludes the thesis by summarizing and discussing the thesis’ main contributions. Q Chapter 13 concludes and summarizes the main contributions of the thesis. R Chapter 13 concludes the thesis, summarizing its main contributions. R

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5.12 Here is another instance where there is no need for the apostrophe since ownership is already indicated by the use of the of construction, which is one of the main indicators of possession in English. In the absence of the of construction, the need for the possessive form would arise, i.e., culture’s transmitters and authors:

A central point of departure for a cultural historical analysis of leadership is to see leaders more as transmitters’ than authors’ of culture. Q

A central point of departure for a cultural and historical analysis of leadership is to see leaders more as transmitters than authors of culture. R

5.13 Uncertainty and confusion in the use of the possessive form prompts the writer to add an apostrophe where it is not necessary:

Consumers would like the mutual funds’ they invest in to maximize risk-adjusted expected returns. Q Consumers would like the mutual funds they invest in to maximize risk-adjusted expected returns. R

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5.14 In the following, shareholder’s has to be in the plural form but the writer uses the singular with the possessive form. I attribute the confusion to lack of proper knowledge on the use of the possessive form in English:

he deal caused a negative efect on the plan of controlling shareholder’s votes. Q

he deal had a negative efect on the plan of controlling shareholders’ votes. R

5.15 he use of the colon (:) or the hyphen (-) to replace the apostrophe is a classic example of errors many European learners make when writing English, particularly with abbreviations:

he UN:s Secretary General… Q UN’s Secretary General…or simply UN Secretary General R

EU:s proposals to solve the inancial crisis… Q EU’s proposals to solve the inancial crisis… R

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