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Post by John K. HerreshoffPost by Wolf KFWIW, the only plural apostrophe that _may_ be acceptable is the one
that some people use to refer to a decade: the 90's, the 30's etc. I
don't agree with this, but it's OK in the style books of several major
newspapers.
a) Use to indicate missing letters: it's = it is, isn't = is not, etc.
b) never use to indicate a plural;
c) use to indicate possessive case (genetive) of nouns and names;
c1) 's for singular nouns; s' for plural nouns; 's for irregular plural
nouns.
d) never use to indicate possessive of pronouns.
wolf k.
PS. TBird/Mozllia dictionary did not know "genetive." Tells you
something....
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/acronyms.html
I don't like plural 's on acronyms, etc, but I'll put up with them. ;-)
Post by John K. HerreshoffAnd the genitive case: I guess that Latin has it, and I found out that
German had it in 1958 :-) It should exist in English, but it's called
possessive, and it's watered down...
John.
The "genetive" case indicates "belonging to a group or set, being of the
same or similar kind." The root -gn- or -kn- means "type" or "kind" (and
shows up in that word as kin-). It's one of the most prolific
Indo-Germanic (IE) roots. 's is a true genetive. It's called
"possessive" because a personal name in the genetive case does indicate
possession, usually.
You can express anything in any language. What differentiates languages
is what _must_ be expressed every time you say something. In IE
languages you must express number, and you must express "case" for every
noun/pronoun. But case may be expressed via the form of the noun, or via
an adverbial phrase. You must also express gender (although in English
the gender system is very much simplified.) Recent psycho-linguistic
experiments indicate that what must be expressed in a language affects
attitudes and feelings. It may affect thought and perception, too.
"Imagination" is in part the ability to say things differently than you
usually say them.
wolf k.