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 > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web > interface at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html > and select "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/