The spelling and pronunciation of possessives

R32 The use of the possessive form of names and other nouns is explained in Chapter 2 (2.180 to 2.192).

R33 The possessive form of a name or other noun is usually formed by adding apostrophe s ('s) to the end.

Ginny's mother didn't answer.

Howard came into the editor's office.

R34 If you are using a plural noun ending in 's' to refer to the possessor, you just add an apostrophe (').

I heard the girls' steps on the stairs.

The Kirks go to publishers' parties in Bloomsbury.

However, if you are using an irregular plural noun which does not end in 's', you add apostrophe s ('s) to the end of it.

It would cost at least three policemen's salaries per year.

The Equal Pay Act has failed to bring women's earnings to the same level.

...children's birthday parties.

R35 If something belongs to more than one person or thing whose names are linked by 'and', the apostrophe s ('s) is put after the second name.

...Helen and Tim's apartment.

...Colin and Mary's relationship.

The crowd met outside father and mother's house.

R36 If you want to say that two people or things each possess part of a group of things, both their names have apostrophe s ('s).

The puppy was a superb blend of his father's and mother's best qualities.

R37 When you are using a name which already ends in 's', you can simply add an apostrophe, for example 'St James' Palace', or you can add apostrophe s ('s), for example 'St James's Palace'. These spellings are pronounced differently. If you simply add an apostrophe, the pronunciation remains unaltered, whereas if you add apostrophe s ('s), the possessive is pronounced /ɪz/.

R38 Apostrophe s ('s) is pronounced differently in different words. It is pronounced

• /s/ after the sound /f/, /k/, /p/, /t/, or /Ɵ/.

• /ɪz/ after the sound /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /ʧ/, or /ʤ/.

• /z/ after all other sounds.

R39 If you are using a compound noun, you add apostrophe s ('s) to the last item in the compound.

He went to his mother-in-law's house.

The parade assembled in the Detective Constable's room.

R40 Apostrophe s ('s) can be added to abbreviations and acronyms in the same way as to other words.

He will get a majority of MPs' votes in both rounds.

He found the BBC's output, on balance, superior to that of ITV.

The majority of NATO's members agreed.

Numbers

R41 The uses of cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers, and fractions have been explained in Chapter 2 (2.225 to 2.266). The use of ordinals to express dates is explained in paragraph 5.87. Lists of numbers and details about how to say and write numbers and fractions are given below.

Cardinal numbers

R42 Here is a list of cardinal numbers. The list shows the patterns of forming numbers greater than 20.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

zero, nought, nothing, oh one two three four five eight seven eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen seventeen eighteen nineteen twenty twenty-one twenty-two twenty-three twenty-four twenty-five

26 27 28 29 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 101 110 120 200 1000 1001 1010 2000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000 2,000,000 1,000,000,000

twenty-six twenty-seven twenty-eight twenty-nine thirty forty fifty sixty seventy eighty ninety a hundred a hundred and one a hundred and ten a hundred and twenty two hundred a thousand a thousand and one a thousand and ten two thousand ten thousand a hundred thousand a million two million a billion

R43 When you say or write in words a number over 100, you put 'and' before the number expressed by the last two figures. For example, 203 is said or written 'two hundred and three' and 2840 is said or written 'two thousand, eight hundred and forty'.

Four hundred and eighteen men were killed and a hundred and seventeen wounded.

'And' is often omitted in American English.

...one hundred fifty dollars.

R44 If you want to say or write in words a number between 1000 and 1,000,000, there are various ways of doing it. For example, the number '1872' can be said or written in words as

• eighteen hundred and seventy two

• one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two

• one eight seven two

• eighteen seventy-two

Note that you cannot use 'a' instead of 'one' for the second way.

The third way is often used to identify something such as a room number. With telephone numbers, you always say each figure separately like this.

The last way is use if the number is a date.

R45 Unlike some other languages, in English when number over 9999 are written in figures, a comma is usually put after the fourth figure from the end, the seventh figure from the end, and so on, dividing the figures into groups of three. For example, 15,000 or 1,982,000. With numbers between 1000 and 9999, a comma is sometimes put after the first figure. For example 1,526.

When a number contains a full stop, the number or numbers after the full stop indicate a fraction. For example, 2.5 is the same as two and a half.