Apostophies in brackets

[looseball]

How does it work with apostrophies (and speech for that matter) when brackets are involved; eg: "I borrowed Fred's (my brother's) football" ? Is this correct? Or " I saw Bob's (one of my golf partner's) car arrive"

[Pete]

Either I am having a deja vue episode, or I have seen this posting before, along with some helpful answers. Both sentences are completely correct, although some may feel that they are a little clumsy. They could be recast but there is no need to do so.

[Tone]

>a deja vue episode, or I have seen this posting before<

Me too, also, as well, and previously.
Is that double-deja vu, or deja double-vu?

Tone

[Dave]

This was my reply to looseball's same earlier question at the end of this thread:

Welcome, looseball!


I don't see your question specifically addressed in the only style guide that I have (The Associated Press Styleguide), but what you've written certainly seems like what we'd say in speech, although we may really be using appositive phrases with commas instead of parentheses (brackets):

I borrowed Fred's, my brother's, football.
I saw Bob's, my golf partner's, car arrive.

These could also be spoken or written as

I borrowed my brother Fred's football
I saw my golf partner Bob's car arrive.

without the appositives but still including the clarifying explanatory information. In perhaps a written form only, you could use the parentheses as such:

I borrowed Fred's football (Fred is my brother).
I saw Bob's car arrive (Bob is one of my golf partners).

Note that I removed "one of" from your first set of examples because Bob is one of your golf(ing) partners [plural] and then it should become golf partners' for the possessive which doesn't make sense overall--even though we might say it that way!

P.S. The plural of apostrophe is apostrophes.

[looseball]

Thanks for the replies. The Deja vu was probably due the intial posting of the question on the end of another thread.
It shows what a tricky language is English, as making it technically correct can sometimes imply suble changes to the meaning.

On another subject: Am I being a pedant when I whip out a pen and scrub out the apostrophes on cake's and drink's when I am in the bakery? Does anybody else carry a marker pen with them for correcting signs on advertising boards? Does it annoy others as much, or should I get a life?

[Pete]

Jan 5, 2011 14:01:14 GMT looseball said:

Am I being a pedant when I whip out a pen and scrub out the apostrophes on cake's and drink's when I am in the bakery?

No. But you might be leaving yourself open to a charge of criminal damage (someone posted a news story about this a long time ago).

Does anybody else carry a marker pen with them for correcting signs on advertising boards?

I don't, but I can't speak for anyone else, and I expect the correct (but pedantic) answer to your question must be 'yes'!

Does it annoy others as much, or should I get a life?

Again, being pedantic, what is the subject of this question? Is it the apostrophes on cake's and drink's or carrying a marker pen for correcting signs on advertising boards? If the former, I find it mildly irritating per se but I find it a very sad indictment of the state of English language teaching today. If the latter, which I doubt you meant, then, no!