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Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

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the people's choice<br />

the alumni's lounge<br />

PUNCTUATION<br />

Note that this rule means that words where the plural is the same<br />

as the singular will have the same possessive form in both cases:<br />

For example, the sheep's wool could refer <strong>to</strong> the wool of one sheep<br />

or of multiple sheep. If you are ever faced with this sort of construction,<br />

make sure that the context makes your meaning unambiguous.<br />

FOR PERSONAL PRONOUNS, ADD JUST S<br />

This one is yours.<br />

That one is hers.<br />

<strong>The</strong> house on the left is ours.<br />

I'll do my share if they do theirs.<br />

Put everything in its place.<br />

A particularly common error is <strong>to</strong> confuse the possessive its (no<br />

apostrophe) with the contraction it's, which means "it is" or "it has."<br />

(Consider the difference in meaning between A wise dog knows<br />

its master and A wise dog knows it's master!) Those who insist<br />

that the possessive its take an apostrophe because a possessive<br />

"always" takes one should take note of the fact that none of the<br />

other personal pronouns take one either. For more on this, see the<br />

discussion under "Pronouns" on page 248.<br />

FOR JOINT POSSESSION, MAKE ONLY THE LAST NOUN<br />

POSSESSIVE; FOR SEPARATE POSSESSION,<br />

MAKE EACH NOUN POSSESSIVE<br />

my mother and father's house<br />

Arthur and Lisa's daughter<br />

Robert and Martha's partnership<br />

the Browns and the Murphys' vacation plans [if these families travel<br />

<strong>to</strong>gether]<br />

Montreal's and Toron<strong>to</strong>'s subway systems<br />

my brother's and sister's weddings<br />

cats' and dogs' grooming habits<br />

the Browns' and the Murphys' vacation plans [if these families do not<br />

travel <strong>to</strong>gether]<br />

195

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