Grammar question.

[Jimmy Cao]

Heya,

So, I am by no means an English person, but I'm sure there are some of you wonderful English specialists out there somewhere... I hope?

Anyways, in a recent discussion, a friend and I debated whether or not it was proper to use apostrophes after a noun to indicate action. For example, would it be grammatically correct to say that "Johnny's going to the bathroom", as opposed to "Johnny is going to the bathroom"? I've tried searching the internet for an answer but I am yet to find anything that definitively supports or denies this as a legitimate use of the apostrophe.

Thanks

[Dominicano0519]

i think that the rule is that you can use an apotrophe after a pronoun like he or she to join to words but when you ad an apostrophe to a name you are stating that the folowing noun belongs to that person

[EricH]

You have to be careful...

Johnny's bow (a bow that belongs to Johnny)
Johnny's bowing out. (Johnny is leaving a competition.)

Proper? I am pretty sure it is. Clear? Only if the context is clear.

Though I think I'll let the real grammar curmudgeons chime in with a more definitive answer.

[ComradeNikolai]

Johnny's going to the bathroom.
Johnny is going to the bathroom.

Either one is correct because they are both the same.

Here are some more examples:

I'm...
You're...
He's...
She's...
We're...

Since this is a contraction, it is correct. It does look like the possessive form, but that's just an idiosyncrasy of the English language. Even though it's correct, however, in formal writing, contractions are to be avoided since they're a lower form of the language.

-Tietz

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by ComradeNikolai

Either one is correct because they are both the same.
-Tietz

Johnny's going to the bathroom was unexpected by the teacher...
Johnny's going to the bathroom.

They can be different depending on the context...


One denotes possession.. explaining who was going to the bathroom..
One is a contraction

[eternalearth888]

Well, as far as perfect grammar goes - it seems as though "going" belongs to Johnny. However, the english language is VERY flexible as we all know , so I don't think there is any problem with it, unless you are writing some major essay. Then, I would take the time to make sure I wrote out "Johhny is" so as to ensure that I have it grammatically correct - regardless as to whether or not it is.