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Apostrophes in The AnswerBank: Arts & Literature
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Apostrophes

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Clanky | 16:15 Thu 25th Feb 2010 | Arts & Literature
9 Answers
Not really lierature; more grammar but I hope some student of English can help. Where (if anywhere) should the apostrophe denoting possession be put in:
1) compound plural nouns e.g. Adjutant-General: plural Adjutants-General, so where does the apostrophe go for Adjutants-General cars i.e. the cars of the Adjutants-General?
2) plurals not ending in "s" e.g. escape-from-parents chidrens days i.e. days for children, when they can escape from their parents?
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If the car belongs to the Adjutants-General (whatever those are :-) ) then surely it must be Adjutants-General's car ? Confusion comes when someone comes up with a weird situation where a plural has not put the s on the end, where any normal person would expect it.

Children are already plural. Escape-from-parents chidren's days seems right to me.
1) Singular (owner): Adjutant-General's car; plural: Adjutants-General's car(s).
2) Escape-from-parents children's days (children is already plural, hence childrens' would be wrong)
1.Adjutant's-General cars (if more than one Adjutant-General)
2. escape-from-parents chidren's days
Children's is an easy one as the word can't exist without an apostrophe.
See...

1) Rule 7. (Sorry Tambo!).

2) Rule 4.

http://www.grammarboo...nctuation/apostro.asp
Except that something like 'the Joneses' golf clubs is a bit suspect, because there are those (including me) who say it should be 'the Jones' golf clubs'. But it's a matter of preference and convention, I think, and as long as you're consistent then either is acceptable.

So what you should be doing, Clanky, is writing about a group of adjutants-general and a children's day (because 'children' is a collective noun, i.e. there is just one group referred to, and therefore, for the purposes of this context, is singular).
Sorry, that wasn't clear. In your first question, you need to be talking about 'the adjutants-generals' cars' ... which, I guess, would belong to a group of adjutants-general. ;-)
saxyjag, I think the plural of Jones is definitely Joneses... the ones you keep up with... so the possessive form of that one would have to be Joneses'.
There's where people differ. I would spell it Jones', but would probably pronounce it Joneses'. But either is correct.

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