ESL Forum:
Techniques and methods
in Language Teaching
Games, activities
and teaching ideas
Grammar and
Linguistics
Teaching material
Concerning
worksheets
Concerning
powerpoints
Concerning online
exercises
Make suggestions,
report errors
Ask for help
Message board
|
ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > Possessive with Measurements of Space
Possessive with Measurements of Space
|
douglas
|
I can see it for time, but for distance it just sounds wrong to me--all the examples seem to give time as examples, but mention "space".
Hmmm, maybe my feeling here is wrong/regional. |
18 Oct 2013
|
|
ueslteacher
|
so in your opinion in "a ten-days � trip" the attributive refers to space, not time? |
18 Oct 2013
|
|
douglas
|
a "ten-day trip" (no S and no apostrophe) |
18 Oct 2013
|
|
yanogator
|
Sophia,
Douglas is saying that in this example, the trip is space, not time. Your link showed things like "in two days � time", rather than showing things like "a two-day trip". As he said, it could be an AmE thing. I definitely agree with him on AmE usage in this case.
@Douglas,
I hope I haven�t misrepresented you.
Bruce |
18 Oct 2013
|
|
dillydi
|
The campers went on a 20 kilometres hike�. or The campers completed a 20 kilometres hike
As stated, the possessive apostrophe applies,
but in this case, the hike does not belong to the kilometres.
|
18 Oct 2013
|
|
ueslteacher
|
Thank you, guys, for sharing your opinions!
|
18 Oct 2013
|
|
FrauSue
|
I went on a 20-mile walk (never plural, never possessive). There are 20 miles of paths in this canyon. (plural, but not possessive). I went on a 2-hour walk ((never plural, never possessive). I �ll be there in 2 days � time (possessive and plural). It �s a whole day �s work (possessive). It �s a 1-day job (not possessive).
I tend to use the apostrophe if you can give the idea of "worth of" - it �s one day �s "worth of" work, but the job took one day (factual). Similarly, it �s a hike whose length is a certain number of kilometres, but I can �t think of a sentence when we use distances with the possessive apostrophe. |
25 Oct 2013
|
|
< Previous
1
2
|