Keegy United States - About.com Grammar & Composition: Is the Double Genitive Overly Possessive?

Is the Double Genitive Overly Possessive?

British novelist Henry Fielding used the construction in A Journey From This World to the Next (1749): At seven years old I was carried into France . . . , where I lived with a person of quality, who was an acquaintance of my father's. A century later it showed up in Anne Brontë...

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About.co...position — Before yesterday

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From A to Z: A Few Facts About the Alphabet

"Writers spend years rearranging 26 letters of the alphabet," novelist Richard Price once observed. "It's enough to make you lose your mind day by day." It's also a pretty good reason to assemble a few facts about one of the most significant inventions in human history. ...

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About.co...position — 3 days ago

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Never Say Never: Five Bogus Rules of Grammar

To find out why these "rules" are bogus, click on the highlighted terms. Never begin a sentence with the conjunction and or but. Never end a sentence with a preposition. Never split an infinitive. Never use the passive voice. Never use contractions. More Superstitio...

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About.co...position — 6 days ago

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Grammar Gurus and Muphry's Law

Before commenting (whether in sorrow or with glee) on the apparent misspelling in today's headline, please read to the end of the post. Self-appointed guardians of the language go by various titles: grammar gurus, language mavens, usage police. What most have in common is a compulsion to ...

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About.co...position — October 30

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A Ghost Word for Halloween

Classified as a "rare" noun and attributed to the English poet Alexander Pope, phantomnation is defined in the 1864 edition of Webster's Dictionary as "Appearance as of a phantom; illusion." Well, it's an illusion all right. Phantomnation is a perfect example of a ghost wo...

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About.co...position — October 28

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Bunnies, Whelps, and Moonrakers: A Quiz on Demonyms

As well-read earthlings, you know that residents of London are called Londoners and that people who live in Los Angeles are Angelenos. You may even be familiar with Hoosiers (residents of Indiana), Liverpudlians (Liverpool), and Arkansawyers (Arkansas). But what you may not know is that a name...

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About.co...position — October 26