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I say whilst not physically, emotionally that poor little apostrophe must be in pain. I always feel sorry for them and want to cover their shame by taking them home and handing them out to those who need them.
Also - grocer's apostrophe or grocers' apostrophe? I say grocers' as it is used by more than one grocer.
I agree.
grocer's implies a single grocer, where grocers' is plural.
If I'm off to the grocer's then its a singular, and is an abbreviation of "grocer's shop" :D
Have you noticed that Sunrise lately needs someone to check the grammar & spelling of the news ticker?
Ryn, I agree with you on the placement of the apostrophe, but I am a little confused as to why he might feel pain. Is it because nobody knows where to put him?
OK, the word "grocer" is looking so weird right now... must stop analysing spelling!
Ali, it is a silly title, I agree. Luckily we have a great grocer who knows how to use an apostrophe, but I do feel for a missused apostrophe; he is neither form nor function, so must be despised! Poor love, to be brought erroneously into this world to meet with nought but hate. I'm married to a man who can't use a comma, let alone an apostrophe, so my red pen gets a good work out already (he asks me to!) - just hope DS copes a bit better. Two men abusing an apostrophe in one house is too cruel!
Oh Ryn, you're a funny one! I used to proof read DH's assignments for uni, and I was lethal with the red pen!
I hate when you over-analyse a word. The other week they had an article in the sunday paper that was going on about new slogans for Brisbane, and I was reading the suggestions aloud for everyone, and by the time that I had finished reading the suggestions, Brisbane was like a foreign word to me, and I was confused as to where it even was geographically. And I live in Brisbane! What an idiot!
Have you guys seen grammar girl? Classic. I would have said Grocers'. But I don't like Paris's either I always type/write Paris'
Google Grammar Girl if you haven't been there :)
:) Great site, thanks Cailin.
BTW, just recalled another hate while reading my webcomic... the word is HAMSTER. There is no p in hamster (well, not unless the beast has just drank lots of water, but that's not my point).
I thought Cailin that if the word ended in s in the singular form then the ownership rule was "....s' " not "....s's" which would make Paris' the correct form. ???
Jaspen - I agree with that :D
Jaspen re read my post hon thats exactly what I'm saying :)
Ryn - yep haha, I'm pretty sure the Grocers' brocolli (sic) feels pain too ;)!
Fortunately the real test of good green grocers is not where they place their apostrophe but rather whether they sell blood oranges!
Oh my goodness my head hurts reading all of this!!!! But it is good for the brain, LOL!
As long as their blood oranges taste better than their potatoe's (sic) :wall::
Sorry Cailin - it was obviously too early in the morning and I read your post differently to what you meant :) - apologies from now on I will wait til my brain kicks in before posting LOL
hehe Kazbah
Have moved this to Writing and Poetry.
Hey, while I'm thinking of this - help me with 'it's'. I automatically put the apostrophe in every time, and then confuse myself thinking 'Should that be there? No, I should take it out...no I think that's right...' :p
It's - it is.
It's - as in, belonging, like the dog's collar - it's collar. Right?
Its - as in, humour at its best. Is that right?
Can someone help me out here? Am I even more confused than usual?
The only time "its" has an apostrophe is when it's the shortened version of "it is".
Else it's no apostrophe.
Your second and third examples are the same - as Humour is the noun and its is used as the possessive (humour at humour's best or humour at its best).
HTH :D
Yeah I wondered if they were similar, except that humour is a noun and well...I suppose 'dog' is a noun too hey...I just figured that being possessive - that's ownership, and you use an apostrophe for ownership, like 'Kazbah's post'. See, because you've used an apostrophe for 'humour's'.
It's so confusing to me! :p
He's late, she's on time, it's not coming...
Fred's dog, Mary's ball, its monkey... very confusing! But we understand we are not saying "Mary is ball", we don't necessarily know whether the monkey belongs to it or if it is a monkey if we have a possessive apostrophe in "its". After all, it's dinner and its dinner are two seperate meanings.
Even more confusing - what to do about Cousin It from the Addams Family? (Don't drag me out of my TV fantasy world please LMAO.)
Okay...so if it's possessive, and 'it' belongs to a noun, like the table, there's no apostrophe. As in, its lamp, its place. But obviously if a Proper noun possesses something, you definitely use an apostrophe, like Mary's lamp. I think I'm clear now. :p
Ummmm no, its is just a special case. EG the lamp's bulb :D Or ... Did you see the lamp in the corner? Its bulb is blown.
It's the anomalies in English that make it so interesting!
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Sorry, I didn't put that very well at all. :p