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Discussion Groups / British English / August 2004One months notice
One months notice or One month's notice How does that work then? >One months notice >or >One month's notice > >How does that work then? The second is correct. It's equivalent to "notice of one month", i.e. it's a possessive.  SignatureJohn Hall You can divide people into two categories: those who divide people into two categories and those who don't According to the Guardian stylebook, "use apostrophes in phrases such as in two days' time ..... where the time period (two days) modifies a noun (time), but not in nine months pregnant ....... where the time period is adverbial (modifying an adjective such as pregnant.....)". Notice in this case is a noun so it would be one month's notice. Fogey > One months notice > or > One month's notice > > How does that work then? > According to the Guardian stylebook, "use apostrophes in phrases such as > in two days' time ..... where the time period (two days) modifies a noun > (time), but not in nine months pregnant ....... where the time period is > adverbial (modifying an adjective such as pregnant.....)". Notice in this > case is a noun so it would be one month's notice. The advice is certainly correct - but I'm not convinced by the reasoning. SignatureJohn Briggs "John Briggs" <john.briggs4@ntlworld.com> wrote... > > According to the Guardian stylebook, "use apostrophes in phrases such as > > in two days' time ..... where the time period (two days) modifies a noun [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > The advice is certainly correct - but I'm not convinced by the reasoning. It's a possessive-type case expressing the notion "notice OF [time period]". A simpler test is to ask yourself how you would express it were the period just one month. If you use _one month_ then it's adverbial (no apostrophe); if you add the 's' then it must be _one month's_. Matti > "John Briggs" <john.briggs4@ntlworld.com> wrote... >>> According to the Guardian stylebook, "use apostrophes in phrases such as [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > It's a possessive-type case expressing the notion "notice OF [time > period]". Yes, I know. But I wonder if that's what they mean by "modifies a noun". > A simpler test is to ask yourself how you would express it were the > period just one month. If you use _one month_ then it's adverbial (no > apostrophe); if you add the 's' then it must be _one month's_. I'm not convinced that it really is adverbial, rather than adjectival. SignatureJohn Briggs "John Briggs" <john.briggs4@ntlworld.com> wrote... > > "John Briggs" <john.briggs4@ntlworld.com> wrote... > >>> According to the Guardian stylebook, "use apostrophes in phrases [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > > I'm not convinced that it really is adverbial, rather than adjectival. You'd be right not to be convinced -- it IS adjectival. That's when the apostrophe is required. Perhaps this is the best way to tie my rule in with the Guardian's: when the period modifies a noun, it's adjectival and represents "<noun> OF <period>" -- possessive in form and requiring the apostrophe; when, on the other hand, the period modifies an adjective, it's adverbial and represents "<adjective> FOR <period>" -- not possessive in form and not requiring the apostrophe. Matti |
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