Thank Heaven No Apostrophe in Spanish

Question

The apostrophe in English causes endless problems. I exchange hundreds of emails at work with intelligent native English speakers who are always getting these wrong. What hope is there for native Spanish speakers?

Two homonym examples:

"Your" is a possessive pronoun; could translate as "su" or "tu"

"You're" is short for "You are"; would translate as "eres" or "estás"

>

"Their" is a possessive pronoun; could translate as "sus"

"There" is a place; could translate as "allá"

"They're" is short for "They are"; could translate as "son" or "están"

Let's make a list of as many of the difficult apostrophe problems as we can!

Answer 1

ain't = isn't / aren't / hasn't / am not / have not

Doesn't it make it difficult to learn English?

¡Verdad! And how many ways are there to translate that in English! - Jespa, Dec 9, 2009

Answer 2

Oh and how easy it is to forget that there is no such thing as "Our's" or even "Your's."
And that "Who's" is only "who is" or "who has," not "Who's is it?"

I pity you guys that are trying to learn English!!

I agree. And while you're at it, throw in "whose" for good measure. - 0057ed01, Dec 9, 2009

Answer 3

We're all correct, sort of.

There is a choice, it seems, regarding making possessives out of plural proper names. And adding 's is preferred, according to www.grammarbook.com

Meanwhile, I found another rule there that is often overlooked.

Which is to use a possessive pronoun in front of a gerund. "His talking bothered me." (Not "Him talking bothered me.)

("Thank Heaven no Apostrophe in Spanish?" Amen, brothers and sisters!)

Answer 4

My son is dysgraphic (like dyslexia, but for writing) and he confuses were and we're. It can stop you dead in the middle of a sentence.

Answer 5

How about it's (a combonation of it + is) and its (the possessive form)?

Another one that drives me crazy is spelling "a lot" as one word....it's two!

Have you also noticed how often "definitely" is misspelled as "definately?" - 0057ed01, Dec 9, 2009

It's easy to remember the possesive form. The "s" in "Its" without an apostrophe, is closer to it and "belongs" to it. - 00f2b5a1, Dec 9, 2009

Answer 6

Just saw this error this morning in an AP story: "...Tiger Woods' mansion."

Nope.

Should have been: "...Tiger Woods's mansion."

Are you sure about this? My last name is Reynolds and to make it possessive I write: The Reynolds' house. - sunshinzmommie, Dec 9, 2009

I learned that both are correct. Woods' and Woods's - --Mariana--, Dec 9, 2009

I was taught that Woods' is correct written English but Woods's is acceptable in colloquial speech. - Jespa, Dec 9, 2009

Volpon is right—the extra "s" should be used (Woods's), but it's not technically pronounced (Woodses). If you don't use the second "s" (Woods'), you're referring to multiple people with that name. Exception: Ancient names don't get the extra "s" (Jesus'). - Soninmyeyes, Jan 23, 2010

Answer 7

There's and theirs, but who are you guys kidding? I'll deal with English's apostrophes any day over Spanish's tildes.

Answer 8

Woods' has always been taught as the proper way, unless this rule has been updated.

That brings me to my pet peeve. The proper way to say that would be "Woods" and not "Woodses", which is what I hear people saying all the time.

There is trouble brewing at the Woods' mansion. not There is trouble brewing at the Woodses mansion.

At the same time. a hat belonging to a boy named James would be pronounced as Jameses hat, I believe. - 0057ed01, Dec 9, 2009