My Grammar and I (Or Should That Be 'Me'?): Old-School Ways to Sharpen Your English

Thoughts on ain’t
‘Ain’t ain’t in the dictionary, so ain’t ain’t a word.’
(Actually, ain’t is in the dictionary, but is still considered by most to be bad
English.)
*
‘Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.’
M
ARK
T
WAIN
*
‘Ignorant people think it is the noise which fighting cats make that is so
aggravating, but it ain’t so; it is the sickening grammar that they use.’

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M
ARK
T
WAIN
W
HAT
’
S
NOT IN A NAME
? (
OR
, P
OSSESSIVE
APOSTROPHES
)
At one time in the history of the English language, a common way of indicating
that something belonged to someone was to add the suffix -es.
SingularPossessive
singular
mann
mannes
James
Jameses
At  some  point,  however,  people  omitted  to  pronounce  and  write  the  es  .  So
instead of an e we gained an apostrophe .
The man’s hand.
James’s book.
This use of apostrophes to indicate possession caught on. In fact, people started
adding them to any old word, whether they carried the suffix -es or not.
Rule: The apostrophe is placed at the end of a noun to indicate that something
belongs  to  someone  or  something.  It  replaces  the  word  of  in  a  sentence.  If  the
noun is singular, add ’s . If the noun is plural, just add the apostrophe.
The boss ’s chair is for the boss only.
The chair of the