Linguistic body has relaxed rules on use of apostrophe to show possession, not traditionally correct in German
  • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
    0·
    2 months ago

    Doesn’t “idiot’s” in this example show possession?

    And the “Johnson’s” is a plural?

    Or do I misunderstand what you’re trying to say saying?

    • BumpingFuglies@lemmy.zipEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      In English, apostrophes are only used for possession and to indicate missing letters (usually vowels), as in contractions.

      My example showed apostrophes incorrectly being used for non-possessive plural nouns. I used a proper noun (“Johnson”) and a common one (“pizza”) to better illustrate my point.