Possessive case and plural

Question

Hello,A brazilian friend of mine just took a test and she thinks that something is wrong with the answer."Consider a large university library. Tens of thousands of books, periodicals, and other information resources are available for use. But to access these resources, a categorization scheme must be developed. To navigate this large volume of information, librarians have defined a classification scheme that includes a library of congress classification code, keywords, author names, and other index entries. All enable the user to find the needed resource quickly and easily."35 - to make available the library enormous amount of information, a categorization scheme has been developed."She had to judge the item 35 true or false, but then a doubt has arisen: shouldn't it be"35 - to make available the LIBRARY'S enormous amount of information, a categorization scheme has been developed" ?Could someone help me clarify this issue?Thank you.E.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]A brazilian friend of mine...[/nq]
In English, nationality words like Brazilian are capitalized.
[nq:1]"Consider a large university library. Tens of thousands of books, periodicals, and other information resources are available for use. But ... navigate this large volume of information, librarians have defined a classification scheme that includes a library of congress classification code...[/nq]
And "Library of Congress" is a proper name, and must be capitalized as I have done here.
[nq:1]"35 - to make available the library enormous amount of information, a categorization scheme has been developed." She had to ... it be "35 - to make available the LIBRARY'S enormous amount of information, a categorization scheme has been developed" ?[/nq]
Correct as to grammar.
As to fact, this wording (unlike the original) suggests that a categorization scheme has been developed specifically for this one library. That would be only be likely if it was an unusual, specialized library, rather than a "large university library". In most cases, one library typically catalogs its books in the same way as another. This not only saves work for the staff, it also makes it easier for people who may use several different libraries.
I don't know why the subject line mentions plurals.
Mark Brader "Clearly, neither Mark Brader nor Toronto Steve Summit read the whole book..." (Email Removed) Greg Black

My text in this article is in the public domain.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hello, A brazilian friend of mine just took a test and she thinks that something is wrong with the answer. ... the LIBRARY'S enormous amount of information, a categorization scheme has been developed" ? Could someone help me clarify this issue?[/nq]
I agree with you about "library's". As for the rest, besides being clumsy, it appears to be a trick question.
The word order is clumsy, and I would have moved the "available" to follow "information". The tricky part is about the categorization* scheme, which was stated as something that *must be developed (but does not state that it has been developed). What has happened is that a classification scheme has been defined. The question does not ask anything about that.

Am I too picky?

Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geocities.com/opus731/

Usenet · Answer

Maybe the original poster had in the back of his or her mind the same point you raised: that the categorization scheme is for many libraries, not just one. The would imply use of the plural "libraries'"; that is,
to make available libraries' enormous amount of
information, a categorization scheme has been
developed
But it would, of course, be better to say something like

A uniform categorization scheme has been
developed to facilitate access to the enormous
amount of information held by libraries.

Usenet · Answer

Sorry, Mark. The plural in the topic is really completely off-topic. I was trying to explain her and I was using plurals nouns as exemples and that thing stuck to my head.
As to the 'brazilian'/'Brazilian' part, that was just a typo, which shows not your pickyness, but your attention to detail.

You haven't made clear whether "the library enourmous amount of information" or "the library's..." is correct. And, most importantly, why. She needs an explanation. Just telling her that it was grammatically correct, as I did, was not enough.
Googling around, I've found
http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/possessives.htm which states:

Instead of "the desk's edge" (according to many authorities), we should write "the edge of the desk" and instead of "the hotel's windows" we should write "the windows of the hotel." In fact, we would probably avoid the possessive altogether and use the noun as an attributive: "the hotel windows." This rule (if, in fact, it is one) is no longer universally endorsed.
Is this the case? Or this?:
Possessives versus Adjectival Labels
Don't confuse an adjectival label (sometimes called an "attributive noun") ending in s with the need for a possessive. Sometimes it's not easy to tell which is which. Do you attend a writers' conference or a writers conference? If it's a group of writers attending a conference, you want the plural ending, writers. If the conference actually belongs to the writers, then you'd want the possessive form, writers'. If you can insert another modifer between the -s word and whatever it modifies, you're probably dealing with a possessive. Additional modifiers will also help determine which form to use. (BTW, that's where that plural from the topic came from)

Usenet · Answer

Making myself clearer: I'm not worried if that answer makes any sense. My question is whether to use the possessive or not. And, most importantly, why.
"the library enormous amount of information"
OR
"the library's enourmous amount of information"

Usenet · Answer

"Erik":
[nq:1]You haven't made clear whether "the library enourmous[/nq]
(That's "enormous".)
[nq:1]amount of information" or "the library's..." is correct.[/nq]
The second one. I meant your comment, "shouldn't it be...", was correct.
[nq:1]And, most importantly, why.[/nq]
You didn't ask that. It is possible to use a noun like an adjective in constructions like "library information", but then it refers to a specific kind of information information to do with libraries and you generally can't insert modifiers of another kind in between. "the enormous amount of library information" would be grammatical, but doesn't mean what you want.
The possessive, on the other hand, does say what you want.
[nq:1]Googling around, I've found http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/possessives.htm which states: Instead of "the desk's edge" (according to many authorities), we should write "the ... noun as an attributive: "the hotel windows." This rule (if, in fact, it is one) is no longer universally endorsed.[/nq]
Well, I'll agree that this position is "No longer universally endorsed." "The hotel's windows" means the same as "the windows of the hotel". "The hotel windows" means something different as I said, it's talking about the kind of windows. In a particular context this might be interchangeable with the other version, but not in general.
[nq:1]Possessives versus Adjectival Labels Don't confuse an adjectival label (sometimes called an "attributive noun") ending in s with the need ... and whatever it modifies, you're probably dealing with a possessive. Additional modifiers will also help determine which form to use.[/nq]
See, that's what I said attributive nouns normally can't be used with another modifier after them.

Mark Brader, Toronto > Keep out of eyes if this occurs, rinse with water. (Email Removed) > (Directions seen on shampoo bottle)

My text in this article is in the public domain.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hello, A brazilian friend of mine just took a test and she thinks that something is wrong with the answer. ... developed. To navigate this large volume of information, librarians have defined a classification scheme that includes a library of congress[/nq]^^
Library of Congress
[nq:1]classification code, keywords, author names, and other index entries. All enable the user to find the needed resource quickly and easily. "35 - to make available the library enormous amount of information, a[/nq]^^
library's
[nq:1]categorization scheme has been developed." She had to judge the item 35 true or false, but then a doubt has arisen: shouldn't it be "35 - to make available the LIBRARY'S enormous amount of information, a categorization scheme has been developed" ?[/nq]
Yes.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I don't know why the subject line mentions plurals.[/nq]
[nq:1]Maybe the original poster had in the back of his or her mind the same point you raised...[/nq]
Seeing the name 'eric', I'd assume the poster is male. I suppose 'Eric' could be a woman's second name, but how likely is that? Why not use the accepted by many people, but not all solution to this common problem by writing 'their'? PD Schultz has me, anyway, convinced by now it is an OK thing to do.
Where is Schultzie, anyway?

Charles Riggs

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Making myself clearer: I'm not worried if that answer makes anysense. My question is whether to use the possessive or not. And, most importantly, why. "the library enormous amount of information" OR "the library's enourmous amount of information"[/nq]
Yes one would use the possessive here. I think a simple explanation is that the "enormous amount of information" belongs to the library. Therefore it's "the library's information".
Change it around and you get a clumsy but reasonable phrase "the enourmous amount of information of the library" which is probably a bit closer to what she would say in Portugese.
Have her try translating the second phrase into Portugese and I expect that she will see it since at least in French "library's" would translate as "de la biblioth=E8que" that is "of the library" at the end of the phrase.=20
I hope that is of some help

Possessive case and plural

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