{"id":80002,"date":"2025-02-10T14:45:17","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T14:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/investing\/why-theres-no-apostrophe-in-writers-room\/"},"modified":"2025-02-10T14:45:17","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T14:45:17","slug":"why-theres-no-apostrophe-in-writers-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=80002","title":{"rendered":"Why there’s no apostrophe in writers room"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

\"Social<\/a>I\u2019ve long wondered why there is no apostrophe in words like \u201cwriters room,\u201d \u2018homeowners association,\u201d or \u201cteachers college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is the noun descriptive or possessive?<\/h2>\n

I found a good explanation in Emmy J. Favilla\u2019s A World Without \u201cWhom.\u201d<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Do not use an apostrophe when a word is primarily descriptive rather than possessive\u2026. The word is acting more like an adjective than a possessive noun.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Grammar Girl agreed with this approach in a post on \u201cApostrophes\u201d that\u2019s no longer available. Here\u2019s how she explained the lack of an apostrophe in farmers market:<\/p>\n

\n

The market is used by the farmers, populated by the farmers, but generally not owned by the farmers. So it seems reasonable to conclude that you don\u2019t use an apostrophe because the word\u00a0farmers<\/em>\u00a0is there to identify the type of market. It\u2019s\u00a0acting like an adjective<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Exception for nouns that don\u2019t end in s<\/h2>\n

There\u2019s a word for these nouns that act as adjectives. They\u2019re \u201cattributive nouns,\u201d according to Amy Einsohn in The Copyeditor\u2019s Handbook<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s a twist in the use of punctuation with attributive nouns. \u201cIf the plural form of the head noun does not end in s<\/em>, however, the apostrophe is always used: the people\u2019s republic, a children\u2019s hospital,\u201d says Einsohn.<\/p>\n

English grammar sure is complicated.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Disclosure:<\/strong>\u00a0 If you click on an Amazon link in this post and then buy something, I will receive a small commission. I link only to books in which I find some value for my blog\u2019s readers.<\/p>\n

Note<\/strong>: This post was originally published on August 7, 2018, and was updated on Jan. 23, 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve long wondered why there is no apostrophe in words like \u201cwriters room,\u201d \u2018homeowners association,\u201d or \u201cteachers college.\u201d Is the noun descriptive or possessive? I found a good explanation in Emmy J. Favilla\u2019s A World Without \u201cWhom.\u201d Do not use an apostrophe when a word is primarily descriptive rather than possessive\u2026. The word is acting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":80003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[40255,688,3686],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-80002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing","tag-apostrophe","tag-room","tag-writers"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy there's no apostrophe in writers room - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=80002\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why there's no apostrophe in writers room - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve long wondered why there is no apostrophe in words like \u201cwriters room,\u201d \u2018homeowners association,\u201d or \u201cteachers college.\u201d Is the noun descriptive or possessive? 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