hyphenation - Adverb-adjective compound premodifier with or without hyphen?

Remarkably low condensation temperature

or

Remarkably-low condensation temperature?

The focus of remarkable is that it is such a low temperature. We are having an office disagreement and any help is much appreciated.

Answer

The wikipedia entry backs up what the style guide I use says:

In the 19th century, it was common to hyphenate adverb–adjective
modifiers with the adverb ending in -ly. However, this has become

rare. For example, wholly owned subsidiary and quickly moving vehicle
are unambiguous, because the adverbs clearly modify the adjectives:
"quickly" cannot modify "vehicle". However, if an adverb can also
function as an adjective, then a hyphen may be or should be used for
clarity, depending on the style guide.

grammar - He wished he would have met her

I do know that the much better construction is "he wished he had met her a year before", but is the construction "he wished he would have met her a year before" acceptable?

subjunctive mood - I was wondering if it WAS / WERE

I'm very doubtful about the use of the subjunctive mood in this particular case. I wrote "I was wondering if it were correct" and someone said it's wrong because I should've used "was" instead of "were". Is it true? and where can I read more about this?

grammaticality - Possessive apostrophe for owner of owner of owner of

I've read Preferred way to apostrophise in case of dual or multiple ownership by distinct entities and "Nikki's and Alice's X" vs. "Nikki and Alice's X", but my question is a little different. Not sure if the title is correctly chosen or not.

So the question is, if something belongs to a person, whose name I don't know for example, then I would say:

1. It's my uncle's sister's nephew's object


2. It's my uncle sister nephew's object

I suppose the first one would be correct, but it looks strange. Can anyone point to a rule that specifically states how to deal with the possessive apostrophe in those situations?

Answer

The first example is the correct usage as it is the object of the nephew of your uncle's sister.

1. It's my uncle's sister's nephew's object

It does not matter how many people are in the list, each one will still have a possessive apostrophe in a list like this.

1. It's my uncle sister nephew's object

This doesn't make any sense as it describes the object of someone who is your uncle-sister-nephew.

grammar - Using "you" and "your" as a representation for yourself and everyone in general

Example sentence:

I love when your dog just lets you sit there to pet them. You don’t necessarily know if they are enjoying it, but they love you enough to just sit there with you for a bit.

Is this correct? We assume the words "you" and "your" refer to the speaker of the sentence, and not to the listener, as second-person usually does. But it also refers to dog owners in general. I have always been curious about this.

grammatical number - What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in "‑s"?

What is the possessive of a noun ending in ‑s? Are these both right, or is the second one wrong?

1. the boys' books




2. the boss' car

Answer

Your example sentences confuse two different problems.

For nouns that are plural (such as "boys"), the possessive is formed in writing by adding an apostrophe after the plural -s. This is pronounced the same as the plural and the singular possessive:

The boys' books [boys' sounds like boys]

For singular nouns that end in -s, the possessive is formed by adding -'s, just as with other nouns. This is pronounced as if the spelling were es:

The boss's car [boss's sounds like bosses]

There is a partial exception for proper names that end in s. These names sometimes form their possessive by simply adding an apostrophe, and without changing their pronunciation:

Confucius' sayings

Jesus' teachings

However, this doesn't apply if the name ends with a letter other than s, even if it's pronounced with an s. These names form their possessive as normal:

Marx's theories

In the opposite case of a name which ends in a silent s, the possessive is usually formed by adding an apostrophe in writing, but the apostrophe causes the silent s to be pronounced:

Camus' novels [the final -s in Camus is not silent here]

'Home' in 'Ben and Jen went home.' Can an adverb be a noun at the same time?

In this sentence:

Ben and Jen went home.

Is home both an adverb and a noun?