Home » Genitive construction

TagGenitive construction

The “Its” Just Keep on Coming

Hello, fellow wordies! We hope this week’s archive edition isn’t “a few pickles short of a jar” or “a few peas short of a casserole.” We talk about these and other phrases for “not measuring up.” Also:...

The F2F Edition

Hello! “A few pickles short of a jar,” “a few peas short of a casserole,” “two French fries short of a Happy Meal”—in this week’s archive episode, we talk about full-deckisms, those clever terms for someone...

The Eagle Has Landed

Howdy, folks! You still have three days to win a brand-new “A Way with Words” iPod Shuffle stocked with our 10 favorite episodes of the show, plus room for much more. To be eligible, take the listener feedback survey: It takes just a...

Possessive Form of “It”

Is it ever okay to write the word it’s to indicate the possessive? Is the correct sentence “The dog is chewing its bone,” or “The dog is chewing it’s bone”? It’s easy to figure out once you know the formula:...

Names Ending in “X”

The mother of a boy named Hendrix wonders how to punctuate the possessive of his name. Should she add an apostrophe or apostrophe with an “s”? Hendrix’ or Hendrix’s? This is part of a complete episode.

Recent posts