Apostrophe

[jack]

"I have fixed my co-wokers, families, and friends' car." <--correct? why?

"I have fixed my co-wokers', families', and friends' car." <--incorrect? why?

[Tdol]

"I have fixed my co-workers', families', and friends' car."

This is correct as long as you have more than one of each. More likely,would be the following:
"I have fixed my co-workers', family's, and friends' car."

We generally only have one family.

PS note the spelling of 'workers'

[bmo]

how come it is not cars?
Thanks.

[jack]

"There goes the days pay." <--incorrect?
"There goes the day pay." <--incorrect?
"There goes the day's pay." <--correct? Does this mean that "day" belongs to "pay"? And does the sentence mean that your pay for today is gone?

[Francois]

There goes the payday?

FRC

[jack]

Originally Posted by Francois

There goes the payday?

FRC

I am trying to say there goes your pay for today.

[Tdol]

There goes your day's pay.

[jack]

The gravy guns’ positions are changed. <-correct? what does this mean?
The gravy gun’s positions are changed. <-correct? what does this mean?

The gravy gun’s position is changed. <-correct? what does this mean?
The gravy guns’ position is changed. <-correct? what does this mean?

Is it correct to say?
This is a Windows XP’s service pack. <--this sentence sounds kind of awkward to me, can someone explain to me why?
Or this would be better? If so, why?
This is a Windows XP service pack.

These are Jack’s assets. <--does this mean these assets belong to one Jack?
These are Jacks’ assets. <--does this mean these assets belong to many Jacks?

These are science books.
These are science’s books. <---this sounds peculiar? Why and is it incorrect?

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by bmo

how come it is not cars?
Thanks.

I have fixed my friend's car. (one friend, one car)
I have fixed my friends' car. (more than one friend, one car)
I have fixed my friends' cars. (more than one friend, more than one car)

I have fixed my coworker's, family's, and friend's car. (one car each)
I have fixed my coworker's, family's, and friend's cars. (more than one car each or one car each (i.e., I have fixed each of their cars)

All the best, :D

[Casiopea]

The gravy guns’ positions are changed. (OK)
The gravy gun’s positions are changed. (Not OK)
==>gun's position (one gun, one position, is)

The gravy gun’s position is changed. (has been changed)
The gravy guns’ position is changed. (have been changed)

This is a Windows XP's service pack. (Not OK)
==> This is Windows XP's service pack.
==> This service pack belongs to Windows XP.

This is a Windows XP service pack. (OK)

These are Jack’s assets. (Jack owns them; they are his)
These are Jacks’ assets. (More than one Jack; sounds Odd, though)

Jacks, pronunication: [jaeks], means, "Jack's".

These are science books. (OK; adjective)
These are science’s books. (Not OK; 'science' is inanimate; animate noun take apostrophe -'s; inanimate nouns usually take the 'of' phrase:

1a. John's book
(John is animate; he can own/possess things)

1b. book of John's (Not OK)

2a. leg of the table (table is inanimate; the leg is a part of the table; the table doesn't own/possess the leg). :wink:

2b. table's leg (OK, but means the table owns/possesses the leg)

All the best, :D