[Gllug] Monthly GLLUG grammar report (Seriously OT now!)

[Dylan]

On Tuesday 26 November 2002 13:11, John Winters wrote:

> > > "To show possession, put an apostrophe S on all words, singular or
> > > plural, except where there is a plural S in which case put the
> > > apostrophe after the S.  There are five exceptions - ours, yours, hers,
> > > its, theirs."
> >
> > Six, in fact: his < he's (genitive _'s_) in the formation and structure
> > of the pronoun paradigm.
>
> Except that "his" isn't another word with just an s tagged on.
>
>     ours	our
>     yours	your
>     hers	her
>     its		it
>     theirs	their
>
>     his		hi

The phonological alternation from -ee- to -i- is a regular and fully 
productive process in English. It just happens here that it is obscured by an 
accident of orthography.

>
> > And they aren't exceptions, they are part of a different rule.
>
> They're exceptions to the rule as stated.

The rule is flawed inasmuch as it conflates two inflexional paradigms. It is 
tantamount to saying that Latin has one noun declension with myrriad 
exceptions.

>
> > > One of many things we had to learn off by heart.
> >
> > Indeed, if one is over 25. But learning by rote is futile when it comes
> > to language.
>
> Except for the fact it demonstrably works.  

As evidenced by the consistent use of apostrophies and pronouns in English, I 
suppose? All the systematic research clearly demonstrates that the core 
grammar (as used in spontaneous situations) is unaffected by rote rule 
learning.

Dylan

-- 
"Sweet moderation
Heart of this nation
Desert us not, we are
Between the wars"

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