Proper noun Posessive Question

Hi, Frapmochas, and welcome to the G.E,

@Frapmochas posted:

Example: Tim's my sister's husband.
Does the abbreviation mean
Tim's - Tim is

Yes, it does.

@Frapmochas posted:

or
Tim's for posessive?

No, it doesn't. If you put a pronoun instead of 'Tim', you can see that 'he' is the one to use, but you can't use 'his my'.

Hello, Frapmochas, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange.

@Frapmochas posted:

Example: Tim's my sister's husband.
Does the abbreviation mean
Tim's - Tim is
or
Tim's for posessive?

Yes, "Tim's my sister's husband" is a correct alternative to "Tim is my sister's husband."

"Tim's" meaning "Tim is" is called a contraction, not an abbreviation.

It would be an example of the possessive case in a sentence like:

- Tim's wife is my sister.

Ok so depending on how you use it it changes? Tim's could be possessive or an abbreviation for (Tim is)?

Exactly. Depending on the context, "Tim's" can be a proper name in the possessive case or the contraction of "Tim is."

Hello, Frapmochas, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange.

@Frapmochas posted:

Ok so depending on how you use it it changes? Tim's could be possessive or an abbreviation for (Tim is)?

@Gustavo, Co-Moderator posted:

Exactly. Depending on the context, "Tim's" can be a proper name in the possessive case or the contraction of "Tim is."

I agree. Interestingly, in other contexts, "Tim's" can also be a contraction of "Tim has": "Tim's broken his ankle"; "Tim's been asleep now for a while."

That said, the contraction of perfective "has," at least after a proper name, is more common in speech than in writing.

It's normal, however, for "it's" to signal a contraction of "it has" as well as "it is," even in writing. It's been a while since this has come up on G.E.