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Tenacious Learner Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Why isn't there the possessive apostrophe?

Hi teachers,
Why isn't there the possessive apostrophe with 'McCaughey'?
The babies did not sleep a lot, so every day, eight or nine people came to the McCaughey house to help them.

Thanks in advance.
  

Top answer

Hello TS. As it stands in the sentence, The McCaughey is a noun modifier; no possession.

— Surfer

  • Hello TS.
  • As it stands in the sentence, The McCaughey is a noun modifier; no possession.
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6 Answers
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Hello TS. Emotion: smile

As it stands in the sentence, The McCaughey is a noun modifier; no possession.
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Hi Surfer,
Thanks a lot for your reply.
Is it? Wow! I didn't know that.
Then, it is like these ones, aren't they?
The airport bus.
A shoe shop.
A horse race.

TS
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Hi Surfer,
One more thing, since a noun modifier is a noun used as an adjective, I really didn't know we could do that with proper nouns too.
TS
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Thinking SpainHi Surfer,Thanks a lot for your reply.Is it? Wow! I didn't know that.Then, it is like these ones, aren't they?The airport bus.A shoe shop.A horse race.TS
Hello TS.

Right, airport, shoe, and horse are all noun modifiers, just as McCaughey in your first example is.
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Thinking SpainOne more thing, since a noun modifier is a noun used as an adjective, I really didn't know we could do that with proper nouns too.
TS, you must have heard them before. They abound in English:

a London train
a Marlon Brando movie
a Tom Jones record
a Hong Kong hotel

CB
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Cool BreezeTS, you must have heard them before. They abound in English:
Hi Cool Breeze.
You are very right!
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