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Matti Lamprhey
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 12:57 am
Post subject: Re: Apostrophe is only for missing letter(s)? |
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"mUs1Ka" <mUs1Ka@exite.com> wrote...
| Quote: | Matti Lamprhey wrote:
"mUs1Ka" <mUs1Ka@exite.com> wrote...
John Briggs wrote:
mUs1Ka wrote:
Fred wrote:
On the same subject.
Why don't we have an apostrophe in the possesive form of it -
its?
None of the personal pronoun possessives needs an apostrophe.
Mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs.
One's?
I believe that "one" is not a personal pronoun, but an indefinite
pronoun.
Is there any rationale for that? On the face of it, "one" would
seem to fit the "personal pronoun" label very precisely and, er,
definitely.
I think that "personal" here refers to a specific person. The
indefinite/indeterminate pronouns refer to unknown persons; one,
someone, no one, anyone, everyone etc.
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Then I'd accept that there are definite and indefinite personal
pronouns, I think.
Matti
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Peter Duncanson
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 1:09 am
Post subject: Re: Apostrophe is only for missing letter(s)? |
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On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 16:57:01 -0000, "mUs1Ka" <mUs1Ka@exite.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Matti Lamprhey wrote:
"mUs1Ka" <mUs1Ka@exite.com> wrote...
John Briggs wrote:
mUs1Ka wrote:
Fred wrote:
On the same subject.
Why don't we have an apostrophe in the possesive form of it -
its?
None of the personal pronoun possessives needs an apostrophe.
Mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs.
One's?
I believe that "one" is not a personal pronoun, but an indefinite
pronoun.
Is there any rationale for that? On the face of it, "one" would seem
to fit the "personal pronoun" label very precisely and, er,
definitely.
I think that "personal" here refers to a specific person. The
indefinite/indeterminate pronouns refer to unknown persons; one, someone, no
one, anyone, everyone etc.
|
A quick Google finds a division of opinions on this.
"One" is classified as an indefinite pronoun by some writers. Others have it
as a personal pronoun. Yet others cunningly avoid the issue by not
mentioning it.
I find the distinction between personal and indefinite pronouns to be
applied somewhat arbitrarily.
For example, the pronoun "both" is classified as an indefinite pronoun. This
seems illogical to me as "both" is no less specific than the plural personal
pronouns (them, they, you, your).
--
Peter Duncanson
UK
(posting from u.c.l.e) |
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Mike Stevens
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 5:41 am
Post subject: Re: Apostrophe is only for missing letter(s)? |
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Fred wrote:
| Quote: | Hello
I see we have some Old English cognoscenti in this forum so I
wondered if someone could confirm or otherwise, the assertion that
the possesive use of the apostrophe (the man's hat) is actually just
another example of the apostrophe being used to denote a missing
letter.
My understanding is that in Old English the genetive form of man (for
example) would be manes so that man's (as in the man's hat) is
shorthand for manes.
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'Er Indoors, who knows about such things says it's possible but she can't be
certain. Incidentally, the 'e' form of the genitive lasted much longer than
Old English - it's very evident in Chaucer who is Middle English.
--
Mike Stevens
narrowboat Felis Catus II
web site www.mike-stevens.co.uk
Old grammarians never die - they simple parse away
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