Renton 21056 Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 You have been warned. My work employs external proof readers to edit our work on documents that are about to be published into the public domain. Part of my job is to make sure they haven't made a mistake or changed meaning. However, they consistently put apostrophes in when discussing the duration of things: E.g. 2 weeks' duration. What's this for? Does it denote posession, i.e., the duration belongs to the week? Or is it to denote a contraction, i.e. 2 weeks of duration? Or are they talking bollocks and should I not accept it? Does anyone actually know or care? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyluke 2 Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 You have been warned. My work employs external proof readers to edit our work on documents that are about to be published into the public domain. Part of my job is to make sure they haven't made a mistake or changed meaning. However, they consistently put apostrophes in when discussing the duration of things: E.g. 2 weeks' duration. What's this for? Does it denote posession, i.e., the duration belongs to the week? Or is it to denote a contraction, i.e. 2 weeks of duration? Or are they talking bollocks and should I not accept it? Does anyone actually know or care? I believe it's the former. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Patrokles Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 I've always believed it has an apostrophe, yeah. I checked online for you too: http://www.englishdaily626.com/conversation.php?207 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manc-mag 1 Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 Jesus' wept! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adios 717 Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 When you talk about the day's events, you are talking about the events of a single day, and yet you use an s, because it denotes posession, the same goes for 2 weeks' duration etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manc-mag 1 Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 When you talk about the day's events, you are talking about the events of a single day, and yet you use an s, because it denotes posession, the same goes for 2 weeks' duration etc. So whats an autonym? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adios 717 Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 I'll autonym you in a minute! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 44113 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 God I've only just seen this thread. How thick is Renton? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renton 21056 Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 God I've only just seen this thread. How thick is Renton? Eh? Like you know, I suppose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 44113 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 I knew the answer you mong! GCSE English tbh. And you have the word "writer" in your job title. There's only one t in writer btw, in case you were wondering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renton 21056 Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 I knew the answer you mong! GCSE English tbh. And you have the word "writer" in your job title. There's only one t in writer btw, in case you were wondering. Well what is the answer then? I'm still scoobied! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 44113 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 See Obagol's answer above. It's possessive. I can't think of an example where you would use an apostrophe to denote a contraction where you'd removed an entire word from the sentence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renton 21056 Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 See Obagol's answer above. It's possessive. I can't think of an example where you would use an apostrophe to denote a contraction where you'd removed an entire word from the sentence. I'll let the proofer off then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob W 0 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 See Obagol's answer above. It's possessive. I can't think of an example where you would use an apostrophe to denote a contraction where you'd removed an entire word from the sentence. Y'know most people speak English without knowing sod all about "grammar" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zathras 244 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 See Obagol's answer above. It's possessive. I can't think of an example where you would use an apostrophe to denote a contraction where you'd removed an entire word from the sentence. Y'know most people speak English without knowing sod all about "grammar" Double negative-tastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Patrokles Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 See Obagol's answer above. It's possessive. I can't think of an example where you would use an apostrophe to denote a contraction where you'd removed an entire word from the sentence. Y'know most people speak English without knowing sod all about "grammar" The written and spoken word are two very different animals, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renton 21056 Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 See Obagol's answer above. It's possessive. I can't think of an example where you would use an apostrophe to denote a contraction where you'd removed an entire word from the sentence. Y'know most people speak English without knowing sod all about "grammar" It was a punctuation query actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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