birding-aus

RFI Cunamulla in a week's time

To: "Philip A. Veerman" <>
Subject: RFI Cunamulla in a week's time
From: "Colin Driscoll" <>
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2004 07:51:01 +1000
Correct Philip and to clear up possible further confusion: It's; There's; Don't; Can't; etc all have the apostrophe that indicates a contraction.  Week's can also be a contraction of 'Week is' such as "A week's a long time in politics". The apostrophe after is used to form the possessive of a plural noun such as "the Pochard spotters' reporting is still inconclusive."
 
How hard it is to talk and write proper :-)
 
Cheers
 
Colin
 
-----Original Message-----
From: [On Behalf Of Philip A. Veerman
Sent: Saturday, 10 July 2004 11:48 PM
To: Colin Driscoll
Cc: birding aus
Subject: [BIRDING-AUS] RFI Cunamulla in a week's time

Hi Colin,
"in a week's time" is the correct form. Why? As always the clue is to establish why the s is at the end of the word and that tells when and where to use an apostrophe. The s is at the end of the word because the week is possessive of the time (not plural), therefore you need the apostrophe. The a indicates singular, so the apostrophe goes before (not after) the s as otherwise it would be nonsensical: a weeks' would be confusing singular and plural.
 
Have fun at Cunamulla.
 
Philip 
-----Original Message-----
From: Colin Driscoll <>
To: Birding-aus <>
Date: Saturday, 10 July 2004 11:08
Subject: [BIRDING-AUS] RFI Cunamulla


Hi all...
I have the good fortune to need to spend a week in the Cunamulla district
QLD in a week's; weeks; or weeks' time. Any tips from those in-the-know; 'in
the know'; intheknow; or "in the know;" would be appreciated.
Cheers
Colin Driscoll

--------------------------------------------
Colin Driscoll
Environmental Biologist
P.O. Box 1047
Toronto NSW 2283
Australia

phone/fax +61 2 49598016
Mobile 0438 773029

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU