TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Years in Toronto From:"Wayne J. Douglass" <wayned -at- VERITY -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 5 Mar 1997 11:54:30 -0800
At 01:57 PM 3/5/97 -0500, Diane Williams wrote regarding Maurice Rose's post:
>>>Other expressions considered descriptive are those that, if rewritten as
>>>phrases, would take the prepositions 'for' or 'by' rather than 'of' ...<
>>
>>Well, now I know why the apostrophe in "two years' experience" looks
>>so odd to me: I read the Globe every day on the way to work!
>
>But your reason above is why two years' experience needs the apostrophe!
>Because it means "of."
This is not how I read the Globe's style recommendation. If you return to
the full text you see that the Globe recommends *no* apostrophe for
descriptive terms that sound like possessives. That is, phrases like "two
weeks vacation" do not require an apostrophe because they can be rewritten
as "two weeks of vacation" and are descriptive (even though they sound
possessive).
The passage above *expands* the definition of descriptive terms to include
not only terms that can be rewritten as phrases that take the proposition
"of," but also phrases that take the prepositions "for" or "by." The Globe
offers examples like
"a hitchhikers guide," which can be rewritten as "a guide for hitchhikers."
Good for the Globe!
--Wayne Douglass
=========================================================
Verity, Inc. Email: wayned -at- verity -dot- com
894 Ross Drive Telephone: 408-542-2139
Sunnyvale, CA 94089 Facsimile: 408-542-2040
Connecting People with Information: http://www.verity.com
=========================================================
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
