Post by NeoFriend1721 on Sept 9, 2004 17:44:03 GMT -5
[glow=green,9,300]Posessives
A posessive is when you're saying something or someone belongs to something or someone. There are ways to avoid using Posessives, kind of. His thing, her thing, your thing, my thing. Those are posessives, but not in the way that I'm going to discuss.
The Posessive is another rule that utilizes the apostrophe ( ' ). So do be careful when using it. You don't want to mix up a contraction with a posessive. Where contractions link two words into one, a posessive shows ownership.
John's toy.
That's not "John is toy." That's (that is) "The toy that belongs to John."
His ball.
That's a posessive where you don't have to worry about the apostrophe. More often than not posessives don't deal with the apostrophe, but when using a Proper Noun and showing posession, you do use it. That's (that is) why it's important to know that.
One acception to this rule is It.
Since You already have the contraction: It + Is = It's. You can't have It's also mean "The thing that belongs to it." So they removed the apostrophe. It's means It Is, while Its means "The thing that belongs to it.
Make sure you don't mix up It's and Its.
It's hot outside.
It's my turn.
It's for my brother.
Its joy. (The joy that belongs to it.)
Its leash. (The leash that belongs to it.)
The Dog's bone. (The bone that belongs to the dog.)
You can't take away its joy! (You can't take away the joy that belongs to it.)
So you see? Make sure you don't mix up your Its and your It's. And make sure you don't mix up your Contractions with your Posessives.
I'm being a little broad and vague with this lesson, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask them and I will answer them as best I can.
EDIT: I apologize, another closely related posessive / contraction would be "Your" and "You're". Do not forget that You + Are = You're while Your says "it belongs to you."
Examples:
"You're an imbecil!" = You are an idiot!
"Get your finger out of the pudding!" = Get the finger that belongs to you out of the pudding!
[/glow]
A posessive is when you're saying something or someone belongs to something or someone. There are ways to avoid using Posessives, kind of. His thing, her thing, your thing, my thing. Those are posessives, but not in the way that I'm going to discuss.
The Posessive is another rule that utilizes the apostrophe ( ' ). So do be careful when using it. You don't want to mix up a contraction with a posessive. Where contractions link two words into one, a posessive shows ownership.
John's toy.
That's not "John is toy." That's (that is) "The toy that belongs to John."
His ball.
That's a posessive where you don't have to worry about the apostrophe. More often than not posessives don't deal with the apostrophe, but when using a Proper Noun and showing posession, you do use it. That's (that is) why it's important to know that.
One acception to this rule is It.
Since You already have the contraction: It + Is = It's. You can't have It's also mean "The thing that belongs to it." So they removed the apostrophe. It's means It Is, while Its means "The thing that belongs to it.
Make sure you don't mix up It's and Its.
It's hot outside.
It's my turn.
It's for my brother.
Its joy. (The joy that belongs to it.)
Its leash. (The leash that belongs to it.)
The Dog's bone. (The bone that belongs to the dog.)
You can't take away its joy! (You can't take away the joy that belongs to it.)
So you see? Make sure you don't mix up your Its and your It's. And make sure you don't mix up your Contractions with your Posessives.
I'm being a little broad and vague with this lesson, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask them and I will answer them as best I can.
EDIT: I apologize, another closely related posessive / contraction would be "Your" and "You're". Do not forget that You + Are = You're while Your says "it belongs to you."
Examples:
"You're an imbecil!" = You are an idiot!
"Get your finger out of the pudding!" = Get the finger that belongs to you out of the pudding!
[/glow]