Plural possessive... is that what they tell illiterate Urmericans who can't pronounce the word "genitive"?
For your information Adam, the apostrophe is NEVER used to denote possession with normal nouns... only with proper nouns (or to denote a contraction):
Adam's a retard... denotes "Adam is a retard" with the apostrophe replacing the missing 'I'
Adam's grammar primer is lost... denotes "The grammar primer OF/BELONGING TO Adam is lost".
Luke lives in his parent's basement... IS GRAMMATICALLY INCORRECT ("Parents" is not a proper noun)
Luke lives in his parents basement... IS GRAMMATICALLY SOUND
Luke lives in his parents' basement... IS JUST PLAIN RETARDED
...similarly...
Luke owns Adam's mind... IS GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT, as "Adam" is a proper noun... despite the fact that Adam himself is not considered a proper human being.
Write these mistakes out ten times each children...
The Luke
You continue to show your ignorance. But hey, I'll go ahead and humor you. The following, found on dictionary.com, was obtained after 5 seconds of googling:
http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/s24.htmlThe apostrophe is used when leaving out a letter or number in a contraction, e.g., can't, wouldn't. The apostrophe is used for omitted letters, e.g., rock 'n' roll, and for omitted numbers, such as the class of '72, the '20s. The apostrophe is used for plurals of letter abbreviations with periods and single letters, e.g., p's and q's; two A's and four B's. Plurals of multi-letter combinations and plurals of numerals end in s with no apostrophe, e.g., VIPs, 1000s. The possessive of singular nouns ending in s, including nouns ending in s, x, z, ch, or sh, is formed by adding 's, e.g., witness's affidavit. However, if the next word begins with s, then add only an apostrophe, e.g., witness' story. The possessive of singular nouns not ending in s is formed by adding 's, e.g., VIP's seat, baby's food. The apostrophe follows the s of a word with two sibilant sounds, e.g., Kansas', Moses'. The apostrophe is added for the possessive of a noun that is plural in form but singular in meaning, e.g., mathematics' formulas.
The apostrophe follows the s for the possessive of plural nouns that end in s, e.g., girls' movies. [GEE, Teh Luke, I guess the word "parents" qualifies here?] For the possessive of a plural noun that does not end in s, add 's, e.g., women's rights. For singular proper nouns, add only an apostrophe for the possessive, e.g., Achilles' heel. No apostrophe is used for personal pronouns, such as: hers, his, its, mine, ours, theirs, whose, your, yours. Indefinite pronouns require an apostrophe, e.g., one's lover. For other pronouns like another and others, follow the rule for singular and plural, e.g., another's and others. For joint possession, the 's is added to the word nearest the object of possession, e.g., Francis and Kucera's book. The apostrophe is not used in names of organizations unless actually part of the legal name. The apostrophe is not used in plurals of numerals or multiple-letter combinations.
P.S. I'm neither TA nor Squadfather.
