Another Catapostrophe!

Okay, I just can't stand this anymore. Intelligent, well-read people using "I" as a possessive!

Here's a quote from an email I received recently:

"This weekend, we celebrated Ted and I's anniversary."

I am not making this up! Even if I could, I wouldn't--because this just goes against all the laws of nature!

Okay, okay, before I pop a vein, I'm going to just calm down and tell you the appropriate way to express the same sentence:

"This weekend, we celebrated Ted and my anniversary."

That's right. "I" never becomes a possessive--or even a contraction using " 's ". Never, ever, never, never say, "I's birthday" or "her and I's house". For all that is good and holy, please learn the simple and proper way to express a first-person possessive: "my".

And just to get a little more specific, for those of you who care, here is more useful info on possessives:

If two or more people possess a thing, then only the last one in the list is given the possessive. For example:

"This is my dad, my mom, and my house."
"Today is Paul and Jan's anniversary."

If two or more people possess things independently of one another, everybody gets to be possessive. For example:

"Those are my dad's and my brother's cars."
"Yesterday was both Paul's and Jan's birthday."

I hope this clears things up. I'm feeling a little better now... except I just remembered someone saying, "I need you guys's help." AAaaaauauugghhhgh!

Until next time, I remain,
Your Grammar Grouch,
Susan K. Morrow