# Possessive usage

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessive-usage/176904>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 22, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessive-usage/176904 "2003-05-22T21:53:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![skaterboarder87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@skaterboarder87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skaterboarder87)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessive-usage/176904/1 "2003-05-22T21:53:32Z")

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Should the bold words be possessive or plural? Thanks.

“Anything short of perfection would upset the Zelda enthusiast; however, **aficionados definitions** of “perfect” are far from analogous.”

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**Author:** ![Joe\_Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Joe\_Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Random)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessive-usage/176904/2 "2003-05-22T21:57:50Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by skaterboarder87 \*  
> **Should the bold words be possessive or plural? Thanks.**

It should be:

“Anything short of perfection would upset the Zelda enthusiast; however, **aficionados’ definitions** of “perfect” are far from analogous.”

The sentence describes the definitions of more than one aficionado, and the plural possesive of aficionado is **aficionados’**

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessive-usage/176904/3 "2003-05-22T21:59:45Z")

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It should be:

“Anything short of perfection would upset the Zelda enthusiast; however, **aficionados’** definitions of “perfect” are far from analogous.”

It’s a possesive plural, like “…better than her classmates’ grades”, for example.

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**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessive-usage/176904/4 "2003-05-23T00:48:04Z")

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Since the OP has been answered twice, ably, I’m going to comment on the rest of the sentence.

> [@](#):
>
> Anything short of perfection would upset the Zelda enthusiast; however, aficionados’ definitions of “perfect” are far from analogous.

Analogous to what? Each other? They should be identical if they’re truly “perfect”\*, although I suspect that’s the point you’re trying to make. Why not just say that outright? Perhaps something like “afficionados disagree on the definition of perfection” or “afficionados disagree on the aspects needed for game[or whatever] perfection”. In any case, the use of “analogous” there really bothers me.

\*We’ve already had a thread and a pitting on the definition of “perfect”, so let’s not go there again.