Re: I flunked grammar, so ...

[Hal Wrobel <hwrobel -at- BAAN -dot- NL>]

        Hello David,

        You need to use the apostrophe: "car's wheel". However, there are
those who avoid this construction, if possible, in formal writing in order
to avoid anthropomorphizing.
        Usually, it's clear in what you're writing that you are discussing a
car (or whatever), so there's really no need to use the possessive at all.
Just refer to the wheels, or the front, right wheel, etc.
        If, for example, you are discussing, say, a welder, you could write,
"The amperage dial is on the front panel." No one is going to think your
talking about the front panel of a battery charger.
        Hope this helps.

        Hal Wrobel
        Technical Writer
        Baan Engineering-Israel
        e-mail: halw -at- baan-eng -dot- com
        Tel:     +972-9-764-4331 (Direct)
        Tel:     +972-9-764-4333 (Operator)
        Fax:    +972-9-766-4114



> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Featherston [SMTP:dfeather -at- BAAN -dot- COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 1999 11:14 AM
> To:   TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject:      I flunked grammar, so ...
>
> ... I need a bit of clarification from you all. How does one indicate the
> possessive form of a noun? I know that for a pronoun, we're meant to use
> "my
> your his hers its ours theirs", without apostrophes if the pronoun ends in
> an "s". And if the noun is proper, we are meant to use the apostrophe -
> "David's problem", for example. But what about 'ordinary' nouns, like car,
> house, tree?
> Should I write "The cars wheel" or "The car's wheel"? And Please, "The
> wheel
> of the car" is too tiresome to bear repeating.
>
> Thank(')s in advance!
>
> David
>
> David Featherston
> Technical Writer
> BaaN     Baan Front Office Systems
> Phone:  +45 44 88 56 00
> Direct: +45 44 88 56 38
> FAX:    +45 44 88 56 01
> Email: dfeather -at- baan -dot- com
>
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>

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