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Subject:possessives From:"Mark L. Levinson" <mark -at- MEMCO -dot- CO -dot- IL> Date:Mon, 22 Dec 1997 11:12:55 +0200
Just as "there's" is a condensed form of "there
is", so "John's" represents a form something like "John his".
** Sounds logical, but the researchers tell us it ain't so.
The possessive "s" developed separately from the pronoun
"his." There was a fad a couple of centuries ago for
expanding stuff like "John's" into "John his," but it
was bogus archaism, like the signs you see today saying "ye
olde comick booke shoppe" or whatever...
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- Mark L. Levinson - Memco Software - Wallenberg 24 - 69719 Tel Aviv
- work: mark -at- memco -dot- co -dot- il / tel. 03-6450049 / fax 03-6450001
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