Coming to you from the writer’s desk, not the desk of the writer

English is a magnificent language for many reasons. One of which is the mind-blowing innovation of the possessive apostrophe.

In Spanish, one can’t say ‘Laura’s house’ — it has to be la casa de Laura. Any time a possessive hoves into view, the noun+of+noun construction is mandatory; and this is true across the Romance languages.

Quel ennuyeux.

Noun+of+noun (or as I prefer, X of Y) possessives slow down sentences and place the critical information (who owns what) at the end.

Yuck.

According to the Quora hive mind, English is the only language that uses an apostrophe-s to form the possessive, an option that permits writers tremendous flexibility in sentence craft.

Yet many seem oblivious to this gift and silt their prose with X of Y constructions.

C’mon. Using the possessive apostrophe is as easy as falling off a bike (something I’m a bit of an expert in) and it makes for crisp writing.

There aren’t many fixes easier than this, so give it a try.

X of Y possessives 

Where its found: Can crop up anywhere

How it happens: Native English speakers may think it sounds more serious or formal; non-native speakers may be emulating the possessive formation of their native language

Why delete? Adds words without adding meaning; imposes an illogical order on information; slows sentences

Examples

1. the support of superintendents of six districts

Edit: six district superintendents’ support 

2. the click of the metronome

Edit: the metronome’s click

3. the lengthy names of chemicals

Edit: the chemicals’ lengthy names

4. the corridor of the hospital 

Edit: the hospital’s corridor 

5. the car of my neighbor 

Edit: my neighbor’s car

Exception

Opt for the X of Y construction to avoid awkward possessive plurals, i.e., better to write ‘the best of the 80s’ than ‘the 80s’s best’.