The article is interesting indeed--about how frequently  possessive
apostrophes indicate something other than possession ("his mother's
request," "a good night's sleep," "today's society"), and about the drift
toward dropping the apostrophe in public names, such as Starbucks Coffee and
Pikes Peak.

The Comprehensive Grammar of English (Quirk, et al) suggests that the
inflected genitive noun usually denotes a close relationship or association
between two nouns, including but not limited to possession.  Sounds to me
like a manageable, more accurate, though not flawless way to describe the
apostrophe, compared to the very limited notion of literal possession.

The Comp. Grammar also suggests that the inflected noun, in contrast to the
"of" phrase possessive, is semantically associated with words referring to
people, the human world, and human activity, because close relationship is
something that is experienced by people.  We would say "someone's shadow"
but probably not "something's shadow" (more likely, "the shadow of
something" or "the shadow from something").  Perhaps (my speculation) this
is part of the reason why commercial and organizational names that become
fixed as public labels and as a single unit lose their apostrophes. They no
longer seem like two or more nouns connected in the sphere of human
activity.  "Pikes Peak" is the name of a place, not a reference to a place
that is actively associated with a person, as in "George's backyard."

In the article by Schuster, the comment that I found a little chilling was
that Schuster's experience from a lifetime of textbook writing was that what
is simple is what sells.  He meant in this case that the "possessive"
apostrophe, no matter how inadequate a label, is not likely to shift because
those in the textbook market are accustomed to it. Other aspects of
conventional grammar are not so simple--think of all the classifications of
verb tense, pronoun type, etc.  But they are no doubt bogged down as well
for reasons of familiarity and convention.  I think the more ATEG can learn
about the marketing of grammar, the better prepared we can be to have an
impact. Grammar is embedded in a curriculum, in the language arts textbooks
that make up the curriculum, and in the industry and state boards that
oversee the textbooks, as well as in the teachers.

Brock Haussamen


-----Original Message-----
From: William J. McCleary [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2000 3:17 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: An article to read


This list seems quiet these days. Perhaps we can liven things up.

I'd like to recommend an article: "Language Arts Standards and the
Possessive 'Apoxtrophe.'" It appears in the April 19 issue of Education
Week, p. 45. The article shows how few uses of the "possessive apostrophe"
truly have anything to do with possessing something.

Bill

William J. McCleary
3247 Bronson Hill Road
Livonia, NY 14487
716-346-6859