A selection of mathematical and scientific questions, with definitive answers presented by Dr. Grard P. Michon mathematics, physics, etc. This is one of the questions MerriamWebster editors are most often asked. The answer is simple usage. Find out more. Figure Drawing Ebooks. How to Draw People. Ebooks about drawing. A library of rare and valuable figure drawing ebooks in PDF format. Learn to draw people, figures in. Compendium of all course descriptions for courses available at Reynolds Community College. Adjective comparative more abstract or abstracter, superlative most abstract or abstractest now rare Drawn away removed from apart from separate. English possessive Wikipedia. In English, possessive words or phrases exist for nouns and most pronouns, as well as some noun phrases. These can play the roles of determiners also called possessive adjectives when corresponding to a pronoun or of nouns. Nouns, noun phrases, and some pronouns generally form a possessive with the suffix s or in some cases just by adding an apostrophe to an existing s. This form is sometimes called the Saxon genitive, reflecting the suffixs derivation from Old English or Anglo Saxon. Personal pronouns, however, have irregular possessives, and most of them have different forms for possessive determiners and possessive pronouns, such as my and mine or your and yours. Possessives are one of the means by which genitive constructions are formed in modern English, the other principal one being the use of the prepositionof. It is sometimes stated that the possessives represent a grammatical case, called the genitive or possessive case, though some linguists do not accept this view, regarding the s ending, variously, as a phrasal affix, an edge affix, or a clitic, rather than as a case ending. Formation of possessive constructioneditNouns and noun phraseseditThe possessive form of an English noun, or more generally a noun phrase, is made by suffixing a morpheme which is represented orthographically as s the letter s preceded by an apostrophe, and is pronounced in the same way as the regular English plural ending es namely as when following a sibilant sound s, z, t or d, as s when following any other voiceless consonant p, t, k, f or, and as z otherwise. For example Mitchmt has the possessive Mitchslucklk has the possessive luckslksmanmn has the possessive mansmnzNote the distinction from the plural in nouns whose plural is irregular mans vs. In the case of plural nouns ending in s, the possessive is indicated in writing just by adding an apostrophe, and is not indicated in the pronunciation In the case of singular nouns ending in s, often just the apostrophe is added, but this is generally discouraged2 the possessive of cats is cats, both words being pronounced ktsthe possessive of Jesus is most commonly Jesus, both words being pronounced dizsSingular nouns ending in s can also form a possessive regularly by adding s, as in Charless. The Chicago Manual of Style recommends this more modern style, while stating that adding just an apostrophe e. Jesus is also correct. The Elements of Style and the Canadian Press Stylebook prefer the form of ss with the exception of Biblical and classical proper names Jesus teachings, Augustus guards and common phrases that do not take the extra syllabic s e. For more on style guidance for this and other issues relating to the construction of possessives in English, see Possessive apostrophe. More generally, the s morpheme can be attached to the last word of a noun phrase, even if the head noun does not end the phrase. For example, the phrase the king of Spain can form the possessive the king of Spains, and in informal style the phrase the man we saw yesterday can form the man we saw yesterdays see  Status of the possessive as a grammatical case below. Scientific terminology, in particular, the Latin names for stars uses the Latin genitive form of the name of the constellation. Thus Alpha Centauri, where Centauri is the genitive of constellation name Centaurus. PronounseditUnlike with other noun phrases which only have a single possessive form, personal pronouns in English have two possessive forms possessive determiners used to form noun phrases such as her success and possessive pronouns used in place of nouns as in I prefer hers, and also in predicative expressions as in the success was hers. In most cases these are different from each other. For example, the pronoun I has possessive determiner my and possessive pronoun mine you has your and yours he has his for both she has her and hers it has its for both though rarely used as a possessive pronoun we has our and ours they has their and theirs. The archaic thou has thy and thine. For a full table and further details, see English personal pronouns. Note that possessive its has no apostrophe, although it is sometimes written with one in error or by people who are making no attempt to abide by this standard, by confusion with the common possessive ending s and the contractionits used for it is and it has. Possessive its was originally formed with an apostrophe in the 1. The interrogative and relative pronounwho has the possessive whose. In its relative use, whose can also refer to inanimate antecedents, but its interrogative use always refers to persons. Other pronouns that form possessives mainly indefinite pronouns do so in the same way as nouns, with s, for example ones, somebodys and somebody elses. Certain pronouns, such as the common demonstrativesthis, that, these, and those, do not have possessive forms. Syntactic functions of possessive words or phraseseditEnglish possessives play two principal roles in syntax the role of possessive determiners more popularly called possessive adjectives see Possessive  Terminology standing before a noun, as in my house or Johns two sisters the role of possessive pronouns although they may not always be called that, standing independently in place of a noun, as in mine is large they prefer Johns. As determinerseditPossessive noun phrases such as Johns can be used as determiners. When a form corresponding to a personal pronoun is used as a possessive determiner, the correct form must be used, as described above my rather than mine, etc. Possessive determiners are not used in combination with articles or other definite determiners. For example, it is not correct to say the my hat, my hat or his my hat an alternative is provided in the last two cases by the double genitive as described in the following section a hat of mine also one of my hats, this hat of mine. Possessive determiners can nonetheless be combined with certain quantifiers, as in my six hats which differs in meaning from six of my hats. See English determiners for more details. A possessive adjective can be intensified with the word own, which can itself be either an adjective or a pronoun my own bed, Johns own bed. In some expressions the possessive has itself taken on the role of a noun modifier, as in cows milk used rather than cow milk. It then no longer functions as a determiner adjectives and determiners can be placed before it, as in the warm cows milk, where idiomatically the and warm now refer to the milk, not to the cow. Possessive relationships can also be expressed periphrastically, by preceding the noun or noun phrase with the preposition of, although possessives are usually more idiomatic where a true relationship of possession is involved. Some examples the childs bag might also be expressed as the bag of the childour cats mother might be expressed as the mother of our catsthe systems failure might be expressed as the failure of the system. Another alternative in the last case may be the system failure, using system as a noun adjunct rather than a possessive. As pronounseditPossessives can also play the role of nouns or pronouns namely they can stand alone as a noun phrase, without qualifying a noun. In this role they can function as the subject or object of verbs, or as a complement of prepositions. When a form corresponding to a personal pronoun is used in this role, the correct form must be used, as described above mine rather than my, etc. Examples Ill do my work, and you do yours. Vectric Aspire 3.0 Serial. My car is old, Marys is new. Marys means Marys car and stands as the subject of its clauseYour house is nice, but I prefer to stay in mine. Double genitiveeditSome writers regard it as questionable usage,9 although it has a history in careful English.