More on Possessives

Back in February 2002, I wrote a column on possessives, which was inspired by the annual Presidents’ Day advertising in the newspapers.  Again this year I’ve noticed a lot of confusion about creating the term Presidents’ Day.  Because it honors more than one President, it’s the day of the Presidents, a plural form.  Add the apostrophe and get Presidents’ Day.  (If it were the day of the President, the phrase would read President’s Day.)   

Of course, there are some special circumstances that are not as easy, so I’m mentioning a few that seem to give the most trouble. 

Forming a possessive of a personal or organizational name ending with an abbreviation can be tough.  Even when you do it right, it can look wrong! 

Generally, add an apostrophe plus s at the end of the complete name.
            the Smith Co.’s new building
            Yahoo!’s Web site
            John Jones II’s résumé
            Fred Cunningham Jr.’s campaign 

NOTE:  If no extra s sound is created when you pronounce the possessive form, add only an apostrophe.
            the Frank Curry Jrs.’ yacht

When a noun that would normally be in the possessive is followed by an appositive, a closely linked explanatory word or phrase, add the apostrophe to the appositive.
            Salem, Oregon’s natural beauty is well known.
           (The comma that normally follows an appositive is omitted in this construction.)

            Wait until you hear about Sid the plumber’s problems! 
            (Because the name and the following appositive are so closely linked, we leave out both commas       
            here.)

Joint possession is another difficult area; no matter what we do, it often looks and sounds awkward.  
1.   To indicate separate possession, add the sign of the possessive to the name of each individual.
            the buyer’s and the seller’s signatures (if each is singular)
            the buyers’ and the sellers’ signatures (if each is plural)
            the buyer’s and the sellers’ signatures (if one of each)
            the Joneses’ and the Browns’ houses

2.   If you replace one or both individuals’ names with a possessive pronoun, watch out for awkwardness!  You may be grammatically correct, but the phrase won’t work.
            Awkward:       my and the seller’s signatures
            Better:           the seller’s and my signatures
            Even Better:   the seller’s signature and mine

Indicating common or joint ownership is different.  Here we add the sign of the possessive to the final name only!
            the Rookses and the Haffertys’ property line
            Dick and Freda’s car

BUT:  If one of the owners is identified by a pronoun, the name and pronoun need to be possessive.
            Roberta’s and my house

Here’s one that most of us have trouble with – which would you choose?
            He’s a friend of Jack.
            He’s a friend of Jack’s.

Even though many of us do use the first one, it’s incorrect.  Think “He’s Jack’s friend.”  Even though we put Jack at the end of the sentence, we still need to make the name possessive. 

How can we be sure?  Well, would you ever say, “He’s a friend of me”?  Doubtful.  You’d say, “He’s a friend of mine.”  “She’s a colleague of ours.”  Mine and ours are possessive; a name in that place in the sentence should be too, most of the time. 

BUT:  Sometimes, we have to really think about what we’re writing:
      That’s a statue of Rodin.  (It depicts that particular person.)
      That’s a statue of Rodin’s.  (It’s Rodin’s statue.)

If using the possessive makes a sentence awkward, please rewrite it.
      Awkward:       A friend of mine’s car was stolen last night.
      Better:           The car of a friend of mine was stolen last night.
      Best:             My friend’s car was stolen last night.

What about one possessive following another?  Please don’t!
      Awkward:       I haven’t seen the phone company’s lawyer’s petition yet.
      Better:           I haven’t seen the petition from the phone company's lawyer yet.