I had a similar problem once when I wrote a college essay about our major
league baseball team. I referred to "Tigers pitcher xxx," and my prof sent
it back with a correction "Tigers' pitcher xxx."
A single player is a Tiger, but the team name is the Tigers. I don't think a
team name is ever really a plural; it's just the name. Is an individual Sox
player a Sock? Just to muddy the waters a bit more, they played at that time
in Tiger Stadium (a formulation which functions much as the tiger cage at
the zoo, which is not a tigers' cage nor, in the case of many zoos, even a
tiger's cage).
My inclination was to follow sports writing convention on the assumption
that the readers would notice any deviation from sports writing convention;
my prof, on the other hand, wanted a more strict interpretation of the Law
governing possessives.
I'm still baffled.
-- Kathleen Bethell
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gregg Heacock
Sent: Saturday, June 03, 2006 2:39 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Possessive form
Scott,
I had a practical problem like that. We started up an Immersion
Parents Committee. Was it a committee made up of parents or one
belonging to them? It may parallel the relationship of a "wood
statue" and a "wooden statue," but I see it more as divided by which
question each answers: "Does it tell which committee or what kind of
committee?" I think it is more meaning-based than form-based.
I'd be curious to know which form people think would be appropriate
to a committee.
Gregg
On Jun 2, 2006, at 8:28 PM, Scott Lavitt wrote:
> Dear list,
>
> As callers say on radio talk shows, "long time
> [listener], first time [caller]." I've been following
> the interesting topics on this list for a few years,
> since a prof in grad school recommended it.
>
> Will someone please clarify for me which is the proper
> possessive form in the sentence "NickJr.com is a
> kid's/kids' website"?
>
> I'm trying to see the difference between an
> attributive quality, such as Presidents Day (a day
> _for_ presidents) and a possessive quality, such as
> Father's Day (a day _of_ fathers).
>
> My inclination is that TV programming for kids
> (plural) is "kids' programming," just like a rest room
> for men is a "men's room," not a man's room. Another
> example, of course, is "women's room." So one would
> say a website for children, such as Nickjr.com, is a
> children's website, right? Therefore, if a more casual
> term for children is "kids," isn't it a "kids'"
> website?
>
> Even though I've investigated a couple of my favorite
> grammar books on the subject--Googled for examples
> too--my current understanding of the matter is
> evidenced above.
>
> Respondents, thank you very much for your time.
>
> Scott
>
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