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Mary Duffy and Marciano Guerrero's East of Tiffany's short stories


Successful characters who populate the East Side of Manhattan, will touch your heart

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Mary Duffy: a graduate of Mount Holyoke College is a fashionista, columnist, model/spokesperson, motivational speaker, designer, and entrepreneur. She started the first model agency for Plus Sizes and Petites and has written three fashion books and appeared on over 750 TV shows.
Marciano Guerrero: a graduate of Columbia University is a Vietnam veteran, and is retired from business.
Marc and Mary are married and live happily east of Tiffany's with a three-and-a-half pound Shih-Tzu named Pucci.

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Terrified and weary, he awoke from what he thought was the strangest slumber, his delirious mind searching for answers.

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Saturday, September 26, 2009

Possessive Nouns That Call for The Apostrophe

Sign to Green Craigs, Gourock, demonstrating g...

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One of the oldest traits that makes man human --and something that we can all relate to-- is 'possession.'

While animals are fiercely territorial, humans are fiercely possessive. We compete so that we can win something, be that an asset or some abstraction such as fame and glory. In fact, Jacques Rousseau, in his Discourse in Inequality #2 affirms that, "The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying "This is mine," and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society."

So, as we say in the vernacular, "possession is nine tenths of the law," meaning that very little comes between us and what we own. And this very human trait is reflected in language.

Notice the following examples:

Lady's existence
Children's crossing
Doctor's patient
Grant's Tomb
Tom's arm
The wolf's leg
Angel's breath
God's tribunal

Nothing but the apostrophe comes between the possessing agent and the thing possessed. Furthermore, notice that the agents are both people, animals, and sentient beings.

When we ascribe possession to animate and inanimate beings that aren't endowed with either mind attributes (thinking, reasoning, cognition), or feelings and emotions, then the possession is expressed with the preposition 'of.'

The life and soul of the party
The root of all evils
The shadow of your smile
The Red Badge of Courage
The windows of the soul

When a writer intends to deprecate a character, that is done by denying the apostrophe to the character, which is tantamount to denying that the character has human-like qualities. We can see this in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre:
"Silence!" ejaculated a voice; not that of Miss Miller, but one of the upper teachers, a little dark personage, smartly dressed, but of somewhat morose aspect..."

But to humanize the hero:

"Whose house is it?"
"Mr. Rochester's."

Conclusion
  1. Restrict the use apostrophes to signify possession by humans, animals, and sentient beings.
  2. Use the preposition 'of' to signify possession by both animate and inanimate things, and non-sentient nouns.


Senada Selmani, model

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Professor Guerrero's Blog

Since I retired from business I've been writing every day; I write fiction and essays
The only writing textbook I use is Mary Duffy'sToolbox for Writers


Book Reviews   Accounting   Writing Tips   Personal Finance   Self Help


Hi! I'am Senada Selmani, model, college student, and avid reader. Having read the East of Tiffany's stories several times, I highly recommend the book: they are fast-paced and entertaining. In particular I love the story about Amy Southshore, the actress who became a Hollywood star. I also love Luke and his Mohawk hairstyle! What is it about the East Side of Manhattan?



Mary Duffy and Marciano Guerrero's East of Tiffany's short stories
Each short story contains an ingredient of the formula for success and wealth. All the stories are written using the Mary Duffy's writing method of Sentence Openers
Order your copy from:

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A NOTE FOR THE IMPATIENT:

If you can't wait 3 days to get your hard copy, and wish to read the stories immediately, you may CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE AND DOWNLOAD FOR $5.00. Later you may order you print copy from the vendors listed above.


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