Where does this apostrophe belong?
Where does this apostrophe belong?
(OP)
I don't have any famous persons' autograph.
or
I don't have any famous person's autograph.
I initially wrote the first, because there are a plurality of famous persons whose autographs I don't have. Then I started wondering.
or
I don't have any famous person's autograph.
I initially wrote the first, because there are a plurality of famous persons whose autographs I don't have. Then I started wondering.





RE: Where does this apostrophe belong?
At least that's my take on it.
I still have a copy of Strunk and White's 'The Elements of Style' around here somewhere so if I find it perhaps it will have citation for a situation like this.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
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RE: Where does this apostrophe belong?
RE: Where does this apostrophe belong?
It helps if you temporarily substitute "people" for "persons" - because then the difference between the two forms is audible.
It also helps if you strip away the complication of the famous people and just look at the way spoken English routinely uses "any". For discrete items (like pencils and autographs) it always seems to take a plural. I think this is because we routinely treat it as an abbreviation of "any of the ...." rather than "any single ....". ("I don't have any ice cream" implies the tub is empty; "I don't have any ice creams" suggests I dropped them in the sand")
I would use Hokie's "persons' autographs" for preference (I'd probably actually say "people's autographs" - but that's just regional preference).
I don't like "persons' autograph. That suggests more autographers than autographs.
I don't think "person's autograph" is wrong. Logically, it is a true statement, but it doesn't chime with the customary illogicality of everyday usage.
... and once you get into illogical usage, we're bound to find regional variations creeping into the argument.
A.
RE: Where does this apostrophe belong?
I would rephrase it to say "I don't have the autograph of any famous people" and be done with it.
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask
RE: Where does this apostrophe belong?
RE: Where does this apostrophe belong?
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask
RE: Where does this apostrophe belong?
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
http://www.plmworld.com/museum/
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Where does this apostrophe belong?
Whether autographs should be singular or plural depends on whether you talking about one autograph per person or multiple autographs per person.
I don't have any famous persons' autograph. ==> multiple persons with one autograph per person.
I don't have any famous persons' autographs. ==> multiple persons with multiple autographs per person.
I don't have any famous person's autograph. ==> single person with single autograph.
I don't have any famous person's autographs. ==> single person with multiple autographs.
Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein
RE: Where does this apostrophe belong?
RE: Where does this apostrophe belong?
It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)
RE: Where does this apostrophe belong?
I also think the fourth sentence is suspect. Unless I have one autograph, I can't have multiple autographs.
The second and third sentences cover all options.
RE: Where does this apostrophe belong?
Scott
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RE: Where does this apostrophe belong?
people is plural.
"I don't have any famous person's autograph" is correct. (I don't have the autograph of any famous person.)
I don't have any famous people's autographs. (I don't have the autographs of any famous people.)
Just my take on the OP.
f-d
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