Re: 100 Proof
Author: English minor
Date: 03-18-2011 - 11:16
Richard Wrote:
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> “The Alcos’ smoke was visible for a mile”
>
> By the use of the apostrophe here you are implying
> more than one Alco in the consist?
>
> A better example, and one that confuses only me, I
> am sure, is the use of the apostrophe in "its" vs.
> "it's". The possessive or the contraction, which
> one gets the '?
>
> Well, I'll take a stab at an answer..............
>
> Alcos' would be a plural possessive form - i.e.
> the smoke from more than one Alco. Which reminds
> me of a rule I learned from an English teacher
> eons ago: Inanimate objects (as opposed to living
> entities) cannot possess something. So that means
> Alcos', and even Alco's, (the singular possessive)
> would be incorrect usage. Better to write, The
> smoke from the Alco, or The smoke from two Alcos
> (plural, which needs no apostrophe).
>
> The word its (no apostrophe) is an oddity in that
> it means the possession of it, which would
> ordinarily require the apostrophe. Go figure!
> The contraction of it is, is it's, and once again,
> we run into that above rule - can an it possess
> anything?
>
> Now - all clear as mud??
Clear? Say what? Its (?) pretty foggy here.