Oops. I meant possessive marker, not plural marker.

On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 11:22 AM, Dick Veit <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
You were right. It is brother-in-law's. The apostrophe-s plural marker is appended to the end of the noun phrase, even if the noun is not the last word:

the attorney-at-law's ethics
the Queen of England's horses
Ben and Jerry's new flavor
my son the doctor's fancy-schmancy office
the jerk who lives upstairs's obnoxious music

Dick



On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 10:56 AM, Ingerman, Prudence (INGERMAN) <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I am delighted to join this group of grammar gurus.


I have a brother-in-law.  I have two brothers-in-law.    My elder brother-in-law's son is also a doctor.

My sister is an attorney-at-law.   Her three siblings are also attorneys-at-law.  The attorney-at-law's office is on the 3rd floor.

Is there a rule about this?   That's the question.  Why is it incorrect to say - the attorney's-at -law office.  What is special about that tacked-on prepositional phrase?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Prudence Ingerman - IEP Juniata College


-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of R. Michael Medley (GLS)
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 10:45 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: how confidential is ATEG?

I recently received a post on another listserv where a grammar question
was being discussed.  Since there is a wide range of language teaching
issues discussed on that listserv, I posted a message to other members
that if they really love grammar and would like to participate in some
excellent dicussion of grammar issues, they might subscribe to the ATEG
list.  One of them accepted this invitation, subscribed, and got a welcome
message with the following lines included:

"IMPORTANT: This list is confidential. You should not publicly mention its
existence."

Have I broken a rule in recommending the ATEG list to others?

R. Michael Medley,Ph.D.
Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, VA 22802
[log in to unmask]  (540) 432-4051

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