Apostrophe Abuse/neglect
 

So..... my kid's teacher "corrected" a poster I wrote....

I have two questions:

1) Which is correct:

a) Intra-Mural Sports' Teams
b) Intra-Mural Sports Teams
c) Intra-Mural Sport's Teams

It's a title referring to several school teams who play a sport against teams from other schools. The teams are the people doing the fundraising the poster is about, so this appears in the "name" section of the headings.

2) Where is that poster people always link to here about how to use an apostrophe, stupid..... (not the Bob the Angry Flower one -the other one)

I'll take (b) -- but I'm probably wrong. Sigh.

B for me also.

my kids picked B too (except Thor -he's asleep)

as far as I can tell without context, your title merely includes sports and teams as plural nouns; no apostrophe required.

B

context:

The Hippie School

Intra-Mural Sport's' Teams

We are raising money for uniforms...blah blah bla'.....

i not entirely sure that sports is not an adjective in this context?

With no prior context, "B" is the correct option.

Don't let this so-called "teacher" direct you to any conclusion, other than the above.

Makes you fear for the child's education, eh?

"A" is never correct.

"C," however, could be, depending on circumstance, and diction.

(Do they all play the same sport, or, multiple sports?)

ENOUGH ALREADY! :lol:

I wrote (B)

he corrected to (A)

I may have to kill him.... but he hasn't yet sent Thor to the principal so perhaps i can show leniency.

(multiple sports)

(a) and if it isn't correct, it should be. Pbbbllllt!

A could be correct (but isn't). It is a plural possesive - there are several sports and these teams "belong" to them.

C is singular possesive. There is one sport and these teams belong to it.

B is my pick - "sports teams" is a phrasal noun, and doesn't need an apostrophe.

Hang on a tick, I'm in a room full of English teachers, I'll ask one.

He corrected it, to the only incorrect answer?

:headshake

English is such a butchered language, these days. I fear for it; My beloved, mother-tongue, warped beyond plausible recognition.

terrific (sarcasm). The teacher doesn't understand grammar. I would ask him to show you his authority for the apostrophe.

I am doing... but I wanted a little back-up before I went gung-ho.....

zen, I agree a is possible, but Sports has to be a noun in that sense and i'm not sure it is here.

Think about it, I could also say... The "Academic Teams" when talking about the Spelling Bee and math games people.... would we add an " 's " to Acedemic there?

The teachers confirm, no apostrophe is needed. Also, the M in mural should be lower case because it is in the middle of a hyphenated word, not at the beginning of a word.

Also my pronounciation of "adjective" is a bit odd, apparently.

Moi? I'm in Adelaide.


...and so picked ZZzzzzzzz.

It's totally an adjective.

or should we be saying Academics in the first place?

or should we change Sports to Sporting.......

Perhaps I need to say Sport not Sports like Americans say Math not Maths?



pehaps it needs to be IM Sport Teams?

yeah, it should be -but that's definitely a "When In Rome" thing

no, I think "sports teams" is either a compond noun or a noun phrase. The proper possessive would be sports teams' something. My Chicago Manual of style says this:

"in compound nouns and noun phrases the final element usually takes the possessive form. [such as:]

student assistants' time cards." Except there's no possessive here, right?

for an opposite reaction (thereby making me wrong) it says:
"the line between a possessive or genitive form and a noun used attributively--as an adjective--is sometimes fuzzy, especially in the plural. . . . Chicago dispenses with the apostrophe only in proper nounts or where there is clearly no possesive meaning:

the women's team (clearly possessive)
a consumer's group

It's a pretty hard grammatical problem, but I really don't think there's any possessive there, so I still think no apostrophe

The teams are not a possession of sports.:headshake

When in Rome, teach the ignorant yokels to speak English properly.

They are teams fundraising for sports. No possessive.

BTW, if they are playing against other schools, they are interscholastic, not intramural.;)

Oh just don't get me started. I really do try not to cause trouble because I manage enough without trying....

Speak loudly and slowly while pointing

I say b) with a variation:

b) Intra-Mural Sport Teams

dubiously: who says "sport teams"? Maybe if you are only talking about a single sport, but it would then be more common to say baseball teams, or soccer teams.

Teams is a dumb word.

Make it Intramural Athletics.

How about:

School Bake Sale

I'm sure the teacher intended "Intra-Mural Sports' Teams" to mean "the teams of (or belonging to) the intra-mural sports entity."

That only makes sense if there is an "entity" to which the teams belong.

Pardon me whilst I stab myself in the eyeballs with a fork.

The intended audience is somewhat dumber than our 5th-graders ;)

although...... I do like that better, especially since I changed the wording a little so that won't be as repetitive as it would have been..... thanks :)

B is right but I like fobbles idea of side stepping the whole issue.

I'm not too smart but I have made a many a banner.
I would err on the part of discretion and leave the apostrophe off.

I would go with fobble's idea too.

:3eye:

:3eye: HAGGIS :3eye:

No capital F? ugg yer slipping.

They don't look like they'd slip to me, but might be quite clumsy for side-stepping. ugg indeed :lol:



I did go with fobble ( :eek: :lol:) subject to teacher's "approval" -he admitted he assumed it was possessive.....

I removed the hyphen too, I'll probably get fired for that one ;)

Yeah, they'll take back your whole salary from the last year...

people do not understand possessives, I've come to understand. a terrible failing of our grammar instruction, although it doesn't seem that hard a concept to me . . .

I recently saw ugg boots with dunlop volley soles.

(and steel-cap volleys ... :eyebrow: they're originally tennis shoes!)

It's a title referring to several school teams who play a sport against teams from other schools. The teams are the people doing the fundraising the poster is about, so this appears in the "name" section of the headings.

Monster I found a rule for possessives.

Intra _ Mural Sports Teams is descriptive so there is no apostrophe. You were right.

I know you have changed your banner but I thought this an interesting rule page anyway.

Descriptive Phrases (weird!)

One of the strangest rules in the AP stylebook insists that certain things are not possessives (even though they look like possessives) but are "descriptive."

As such, they do not deserve apostrophes.

Such as it is, here's the logic behind the rule:

• students handbook
  • It's a handbook for students, not a handbook belonging to students

• teachers college, writers guide
  • The same twisted logic applies

Here are other examples from the stylebook. Notice the absence of apostrophes:

• citizens band radio
• a Cincinnati Reds infielder

http://www.newsroom101.com/NR_exerci...un_lesson.html

Which also makes it a drivers license and a doctors appointment.

thanks sky. it occurred to me this morning that I have a friend who's an editor and could've answered straight away, but it is nice to have an overwhelming concensus.

newspaper rules do not count

I'm in school again! I was told by my professor to "watch my use of the semi-colon"; in certain cases.

I have abused my semi-colon privileges already: now it's time to beat the heck out of the colon. :)

an aggressive enema?

buttsex?

good stuff sky.

:eyebrow:

Shouldn't that be, I would go with 'fobble's idea too?

Intra-Mural Jocks ;)

:lol:

Cellar, Cellar, on the wall*,
who is the analest of them all?

* I acknowledge that this does not make sense. It is a poetic and rhetorical device.

:eek:

ok - Lemme axe this - so's what's the write friggin' answer?

9!

You misspelled "analyst".

I'm in love.

With the whole damn (damned?) lot of you.
Like, OMG!
There's no place like home and all that.
Snaps!

Ja!

Sure they do. A headline isn't so much different than a banner.




I think he did it on purpose as did classic purposefully misspelled 'right'.

figgin doesn't count

and neither do user names. Those are sky skidies rules.