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jimclay
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:04 am
Post subject: Question about possessive case |
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I have a quick question about the possessive case.
I'm writing a book where one of the main destinations is "Coffee's
Trading Post." But in many of the descriptions I've shorten that to
just "Coffee's."
The quesiton is this: In the shorten form would it be better to use
"Coffee's" or "Coffee."?
Here's a sentence as an example of what I'm talking about:
"But despite these visits from the Indians, a few visits John made to
their village, and some trips to Coffee's, life was quiet and he felt
lonely."
Is "Coffee's" good usage in this sentence?
Or should I say:
"But despite these visits from the Indians, a few visits John made to
their village, and some trips to Coffee, life was quiet and he felt
lonely."
Thanks
--
Jimmy Clay
Read free ebooks !!!!!
Go to my web page:
www.songofthecoyote.com/
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choro-nik
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:04 am
Post subject: Re: Question about possessive case |
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I'd say Coffee's. It is short for Coffee's Trading Post whereas Coffee is
the character (IF he is the character, that is).
But tell me IS Coffee actually a character? Or are we talking about a or the
Coffee Trading Post?
From what info you provide it is difficult to say.
--
choro-nik
********
"jimclay" <jimclay@netzero.net> wrote in message
news:1127096543.282774.79290@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: | I have a quick question about the possessive case.
I'm writing a book where one of the main destinations is "Coffee's
Trading Post." But in many of the descriptions I've shorten that to
just "Coffee's."
The quesiton is this: In the shorten form would it be better to use
"Coffee's" or "Coffee."?
Here's a sentence as an example of what I'm talking about:
"But despite these visits from the Indians, a few visits John made to
their village, and some trips to Coffee's, life was quiet and he felt
lonely."
Is "Coffee's" good usage in this sentence?
Or should I say:
"But despite these visits from the Indians, a few visits John made to
their village, and some trips to Coffee, life was quiet and he felt
lonely."
Thanks
--
Jimmy Clay
Read free ebooks !!!!!
Go to my web page:
www.songofthecoyote.com/
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Pat Durkin
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:04 am
Post subject: Re: Question about possessive case |
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"jimclay" <jimclay@netzero.net> wrote in message
news:1127096543.282774.79290@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: | I have a quick question about the possessive case.
I'm writing a book where one of the main destinations is "Coffee's
Trading Post." But in many of the descriptions I've shorten that to
just "Coffee's."
The quesiton is this: In the shorten form would it be better to use
"Coffee's" or "Coffee."?
Here's a sentence as an example of what I'm talking about:
"But despite these visits from the Indians, a few visits John made to
their village, and some trips to Coffee's, life was quiet and he felt
lonely."
Is "Coffee's" good usage in this sentence?
|
Yes.
| Quote: |
Or should I say:
"But despite these visits from the Indians, a few visits John made to
their village, and some trips to Coffee, life was quiet and he felt
lonely."
|
If you say Coffee, it sounds as though Coffee is a town, rather than just a
store.
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jimclay
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:40 pm
Post subject: Re: Question about possessive case |
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Yes, Holland Coffee is a historical person and a character in the book,
and he owned Coffee's Trading Post.
Thanks for the answer. I assumed that "Coffee's" was the corrected
answer but then I started wondering about it and couldn't decide if
that was okay just by looking at my grammar book.
choro-nik wrote:
| Quote: | I'd say Coffee's. It is short for Coffee's Trading Post whereas Coffee is
the character (IF he is the character, that is).
But tell me IS Coffee actually a character? Or are we talking about a or the
Coffee Trading Post?
From what info you provide it is difficult to say.
--
choro-nik
********
"jimclay" <jimclay@netzero.net> wrote in message
news:1127096543.282774.79290@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
I have a quick question about the possessive case.
I'm writing a book where one of the main destinations is "Coffee's
Trading Post." But in many of the descriptions I've shorten that to
just "Coffee's."
The quesiton is this: In the shorten form would it be better to use
"Coffee's" or "Coffee."?
Here's a sentence as an example of what I'm talking about:
"But despite these visits from the Indians, a few visits John made to
their village, and some trips to Coffee's, life was quiet and he felt
lonely."
Is "Coffee's" good usage in this sentence?
Or should I say:
"But despite these visits from the Indians, a few visits John made to
their village, and some trips to Coffee, life was quiet and he felt
lonely."
Thanks
--
Jimmy Clay
Read free ebooks !!!!!
Go to my web page:
www.songofthecoyote.com/
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Don Phillipson
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 5:49 pm
Post subject: Re: Question about possessive case |
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"jimclay" <jimclay@netzero.net> wrote in message
news:1127096543.282774.79290@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: | I'm writing a book where one of the main destinations is "Coffee's
Trading Post." But in many of the descriptions I've shorten that to
just "Coffee's."
The quesiton is this: In the shorten form would it be better to use
"Coffee's" or "Coffee."?
|
1. Generally, proper nouns (names of individuals, places,
species etc.) are not obliged to conform to the rules for
common nouns.
2. You say here "Coffee's Trading Post" is a proper noun,
with the short form "Coffee's." So it qualifies under #1 above.
3. Because coffee is also a common noun, you should use
"Coffee's" in dissimilar ways to remind readers that you
are not talking about coffee -- that is, if you are unwilling
to rename it Jackson's Trading Post.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada) |
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Guest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 2:47 am
Post subject: Re: Question about possessive case |
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| Quote: |
Here's a sentence as an example of what I'm talking about:
"But despite these visits from the Indians, a few visits John made to
their village, and some trips to Coffee's, life was quiet and he felt
lonely."
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You DO realise that you started a sentence with 'but'? |
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Robert Lieblich
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 3:05 am
Post subject: Re: Question about possessive case |
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keithbcook@aol.com wrote:
| Quote: |
Here's a sentence as an example of what I'm talking about:
"But despite these visits from the Indians, a few visits John made to
their village, and some trips to Coffee's, life was quiet and he felt
lonely."
You DO realise that you started a sentence with 'but'?
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Of course I do. I did it on purpose, and I even pointed out, later in
the post (a part snipped by you), that I had done so. You'd have had
to be pretty thick not to notice. And you don't strike me as thick.
If there's any point to this exercise, it is to persuade you that 99
percent of all right-thinking native speakers of English have no
objection to beginning a sentence with "and" or "but." I find that
offering examples of well-formed sentences beginning with those words
is a good way of helping people with an irrational aversion to them
shed that aversion. And that's just what I intend to do. Perhaps
others will join in.
Congratulations on conquering the Google Groups interface.
--
Bob Lieblich
And why not? |
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Martin Ambuhl
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 3:29 am
Post subject: Re: Question about possessive case |
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keithbcook@aol.com wrote:
| Quote: | Here's a sentence as an example of what I'm talking about:
"But despite these visits from the Indians, a few visits John made to
their village, and some trips to Coffee's, life was quiet and he felt
lonely."
You DO realise that you started a sentence with 'but'?
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And what's your point? |
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Tony Cooper
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 3:46 am
Post subject: Re: Question about possessive case |
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On Fri, 14 Oct 2005 17:05:01 -0400, Robert Lieblich
<robert.lieblich@verizon.net> wrote:
| Quote: | If there's any point to this exercise, it is to persuade you that 99
percent of all right-thinking native speakers of English have no
objection to beginning a sentence with "and" or "but." I find that
offering examples of well-formed sentences beginning with those words
is a good way of helping people with an irrational aversion to them
shed that aversion.
And that's just what I intend to do. Perhaps
others will join in.
|
But that would be "piling on". And I think that's a 10 yard penalty.
--
Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL |
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