On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 12:53 PM, Thomas Heller <thel...@python.net> wrote:
> Steve Holden schrieb: > > Thomas Heller wrote: > >> Question from a non-native english speaker: is this now valid english? > >> > >> "One of Python's great strengths" > >> ^ > >> "and also teaches Python's functional programming features" > >> ^ > >> "The book's approach is wholly practical" > >> ^ > > It always has been valid English. The apostrophe is only omitted from > > personal pronouns (hers, its, and so on). > > I see, thanks. But, is the apostrophe optional in the above fragments? > No. The apostrophe on the nouns is used to denote possession. If you don't include it, the word becomes plural (which makes no sense on proper nouns). The way to write the sentance without the apostrophe would be "One of the great strengths of Python" and "The approach of the book is wholly practical". To a native English speaker, this alternative is much more awkward.
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