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ESL forum >
Ask for help > Grammar Question
Grammar Question
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AL3NA
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Grammar Question
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Hi. I was wondering if anyone could help me with a grammar question. I was reading something a student wrote it said something like this: "A kid at my school �s cat had kittens" To me this sound incorrect, but I do not know how to correct it. The cat belongs to the kid, in this sentence what is understood is that the cat belong to the school. Am I wrong? |
5 Dec 2014
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yanogator
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Actually, that �s the way many people in the US would say it, but it �s definitely wrong. It has to be rewritten. One option is "The cat of a kid at my school had kittens." Another is "There �s a kid at my school whose cat had kittens."
Bruce
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5 Dec 2014
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cunliffe
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That �s also the way I would say it, while thinking how wonderfully flexible the English language is. |
5 Dec 2014
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yenn
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Hi! I think in the sentence the subjet is "A kid", and the action is "had kittens", the preposition of place "at" should have only a place, so its very confusing LOL Another Option might be: A kid´s cat, at my school, had kittens. |
5 Dec 2014
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redcamarocruiser
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If a child does not know the name of the kid at his school, he will identify him as "a kid at my school." It may become clearer if you replace "a kid at my school" with a name: "A kid at my school ´s cat had kittens" Chris � cat had kittens. |
5 Dec 2014
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thegreatdanabusa
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In Wales we �d say, "There �s this kid and he goes to my school and he has a cat and that cat had kittens" |
6 Dec 2014
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cunliffe
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@the greatdanabusa - a little verbose, perhaps? :-)
Personally, I would go with the natural utterance, which has a grammatical justification, as set out by redcamarocruiser.
Edit: If an EAL kid at my school�s English was as good as this, I would be delighted.
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6 Dec 2014
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almaz
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You hear and see the �group genitive � all the time (Old Fred what �s-his-face �s haemorrhoids...; the man on the Clapham omnibus �s opinion...; The Department of Community Learning and Development �s Annual Outing etc). Like Lynne, I �m fond of this too - it allows you to be playful with the language. It �s definitely acceptable in spoken/informal British English, although I believe the American dictionary-wallah Noah Webster didn �t like it much.
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6 Dec 2014
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cunliffe
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...And when you think about the derivation of the possessive apostrophe, it would have gone like this, �A kid at my school, his cat has had kittens. � |
6 Dec 2014
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yanogator
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Well, Alex, Noah Webster has been gone a long time, but his ghost still haunts US grammar and spelling.
Bruce |
6 Dec 2014
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