Wordsmith Talk |
About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | |||
Register Log In Wordsmith.org Forums General Topics Q&A about words apostrophic point 2
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
OP I must admit that when I posted I didn't even consider that the phrase should not take an apostrophe. Guess that's the beauty of this place.
From "The Complete Plain Words" (1973)-
<<<Whether one should use an apostrophe in such expressions as 'Ten years imprisonment' is a disputed and not very important point. [ha!] The answer seems to be that if "ten years" is regarded as a descriptive genitive...we must write "years'" ; if as an adjectival phrase there must be no apostrophe but the word must be hyphened [ - eh? you must mean hyphenated matey...] (see HYPHEN). In the singular "a year's imprisonment) "year's" can only be a descriptive genitive.>>>
Fowler (1996) don't say nuffink on it...any others?
And I still definitely won't see the movie...
jj
Moderated by Jackie
Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics Forums16Topics13,913Posts229,412Members9,182 Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV
9,182 Registered Users
Who's Online Now 0 members (), 907 guests, and 3 robots. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days) A C Bowden 28
Top Posters wwh 13,858Faldage 13,803Jackie 11,613wofahulicodoc 10,583tsuwm 10,542LukeJavan8 9,922Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210AnnaStrophic 6,511Wordwind 6,296of troy 5,400
Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith.org