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HELP - Possesive form.
Which would be correct?
May I have the number of your daughter's? -or- May I have the number of your daughter? because if i would use "you" instead of "daughter", it would be May I have the number of yours
I think it's OF YOUR DAUGHTER.
's is added only to names: I'm a friend of Joshua's
<<'s is added only to names: >>
In fact, no. 'Your daughter's number' is fine.
Actually, all least in the Midwest, either would be correct, with one first one implying daughter's (house) or daughter's (place of work). In spoken English, it should make sense, if the implied word is obvious.
Sander has it. But don't forget that pesky apostrophe:
May/Could I have your daughter's number?
"I think it's OF YOUR DAUGHTER.
's is added only to names: I'm a friend of Joshua's " No. It's added to ALL nouns. "The elephant's tusks." "The elephants' trunks." "The cars' engines."
If it's singular it's apostrophe S ('s), and if it's plural it's S apostrophe (s'). We need the apostrophe to know whether it's singular or plural, because we use S (and es, and ies, etc) to form plurals, too.
So if you say "The cars windows" you wouldn't know whether "cars" is sngular or plural, so if you say "The car's windows", you know there is only ONE car, but if you say "The cars' windows" then you know there is MORE than one car.
Actually, we don't need the possessive apostrophe at all. It's an entirely redundant device. And of course, it simply does not exist in the spoken language.
BUT - it is an accepted spelling convention in the written language.
"So if you say 'The cars windows' you wouldn't know whether 'cars' is sngular or plural, so if you say 'The car's windows', you know there is only ONE car, but if you say "The cars' windows" then you know there is MORE than one car."
To further illustrate my last comment, I have to believe that instead of "you say" in the above, Adam meant "you write." Whether I say: "the car's windows" or "the cars' windows" they both sound the same. Context is the key to understanding here, not a silly little apostrophe.
"Actually, we don't need the possessive apostrophe at all. It's an entirely redundant device."
We DO need it. It isn't redundant. If you write "the cars windows" in a book and someone reads it, they will be very confused. They will think, "Is that one car, or more than one car?" We can't tell without the apostophe, because we also spell the plural in the same way as the possessive - C-A-R-S. So because of that, we NEED to put the apostrophe in to tell the reader whether it's singular or plural. e.g. Car's - singular. Cars' - plural. Some exceptions are nouns that don't end in -s, -es, or -ies in the plural, in which case only apostrophe-S is used and never S-apostrophe. e.g. Children's (which is plural, NOT singular) but NEVER "childrens' ". That's because the word "children" is obviously plural, so we don't need the apostrophe to tell us whether it's singular or plural like we have to do with most nouns, so we just use apostrophe-S to tell us that it's a possessive.
POSSESSIVE NOUNS:
When creating possessive form nouns there are 8 simple rules: 1. If a singular noun does not end in s, add 's The delivery boy's truck was blocking the driveway. Bob Dole's concession speech was stoic and dignified. The student's attempts to solve the problem were rewarded 2. If a singular common noun ends in s, add 's—unless the next word begins with s. If the next word begins with s, add an apostrophe only. (This includes words with s and sh sounds.) The boss's temper was legendary among his employees. The boss' sister was even meaner. The witness's version of the story has several inconsistencies. The witness' story did not match the events recorded on tape. 3. If a singular proper noun ends in s, add an apostrophe. Chris' exam scores were higher than any other students. 4. If a noun is plural in form and ends in an s, add an apostrophe only, even if the intended meaning of the word is singular (such as mathematics and measles.) The instructor asked us to analyze ten poems' meanings. The dog catcher had to check all of the dogs' tags. It is hard to endure the Marine Corps' style of discipline. 5. If a plural noun does NOT end in s, add 's Many activists in Oregon are concerned with children's rights. Everyone was disappointed with the American media's coverage of the Olympics in Atlanta. 6. If there is joint possession, use the correct possessive for only the possessive closest to the noun. Clinton and Gore's campaign was successful. She was worried about her mother and father's marriage. Beavis and Butthead's appeal is absolutely lost on me. 7. If there is a separate possession of the same noun, use the correct possessive form for each word. The owner's and the boss's excuses were equally false. The dog's and the cats' owners were in school when the fire broke out. 8. In a compound construction, use the correct possessive form for the word closest to the noun. Avoid possessives with compound plurals. My father-in-law's BMW is really fun to drive. The forest ranger's truck is painted an ugly shade of green. Your neighborhood letter carrier's job is more difficult than you imagine. http://grammar.uoregon.edu/case/possnouns.html
So the "silly" apostrophe is more important, and more complicated, than you thought.
"May I have the number of your daughter's?
-or- May I have the number of your daughter? " In that case "May I have the number of your daughter?" is the correct one. We don't need the apostrophe because we know that "daughter" is singular. We'd need an apostrophe when it's "May I have your daughters number?", in which case the correct way to write it would be "May I have your daughter's number?" if it's one daughter, or "May I have your daughters' number?" if it's more than one daughter. |