the role of 's

[sebayanpendam]

Hi,

I have a question on a particular use of an apostrophe 's. How do we know when to add 's to certain nouns like special nouns?

Examples,

1.The Malaysian Teacher's ( or Teachers'/Teacher) Training Institute.
2. The UTM's (or UTM) Creative Arts Club. UTM stands for University of Technology Malaysia.

But I know 's is added to living objects only.

Thanks

 

[Rover_KE]

Go to the website of the respective institution and see what it calls itself.

Only Teacher's is wrong in your examples as more than one teacher is trained there.

The apostrophe can also be used for inanimate objects:

Please don't be fooled by over-prescriptive grammar books. This is a guide NOT a rule.

For example, it is perfectly acceptable to say "The car's headlights were out of alignment." In fact, the supposedly 'correct' form "The headlights of the car were out of alignment." is rare in actual usage.

(Coffa, 6 Mar 2006)

Rover

 

[sebayanpendam]

Hi,

Thanks for the explanation. What about the acronyms such as KFC's employees (the only acronym I could think of)?

Thanks

 

[Tdol]

You can use 's with acronyms.

 

[Rover_KE]

. . . or you can say KFC employees without the apostrophe.

Actually KFC is not an acronym.

FIFA and NATO are acronyms - initialisms which form pronounceable words.

Rover