I want to ask you that where apostrophe(,s) can be used.
I have read somewhere that we can not use ,s with lifeless things like we can not say
chair,s leg is broken.Instead we will say the leg of the chair is broken.But at some other places i have also read ,s with lifeless things.I don,t understand where ,s should be used and where not as for as lifeless things are concerned.Please explain it,thank you.
Thanks for reply,
But my problem is not solved yet,please give me some examples so that i could understand it in a better way,thanks
There is an ongoing debate about this issue. The way I see it is this. Many pedants in past and present have disapproved of “the chair’s legs” and “the chair whose legs are ugly”, because an inanimate thing is supposed to be unable to possess anything. However, many good writers (Shakespeare, Milton) in past and present have in fact always used possessive forms for things; I consider this disapproval a superstition. Possessive forms can be used with things in all languages I know, including Latin, Greek, and modern European languages, and older English. Moreover, “of” indicates a possessive just as much as 's and whose. This was an issue a hundred years ago and it still is, and yet the pedants have not won; they ought at last to give up. I owe thanks for pointing this out to Henry Fowler, Modern English Usage.