I don't pay much attention to sports, but I think what an individual
member of a team is called may depend on the team. I live near Seattle,
and I think I've heard sports announcers on TV say something like, "X is a
Mariner."
Jan
On Sat, 3 Jun 2006, Kathleen Bethell wrote:
> 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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>
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