The Bailiwick Of The Grammarian

On another web forum, in a galaxy far far away, a French person asked about a rule his English teacher told him: the possessive apostrophe (ex. Cleek's awesome blog) should only be used on people, not on things (ex. Check out the blog's awesome layout). Instead, you need to write it like: Check out the awesome layout of the blog.

I'd never heard of this rule, and I question the rule's validity (er... I question the validity of the rule).

To me, it sounds like someone who prefers French (or Spanish or Latin?) grammar rules insisting on making English sound like French: Check out ze awesome layout de la blog.

Grammarians, what say you ?

6 thoughts on “The Bailiwick Of The Grammarian

  1. Paige

    well several sources say that it is considered correct to use “of the” instead of the possessive ‘s. but it’s not referenced in APA and it seems like an antiquated rule that isn’t observed by many. silly english rules.

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