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ESL forum > Grammar and Linguistics > Possessive with Measurements of Space    

Possessive with Measurements of Space





douglas
United States

I can see it for time, but for distance it just sounds wrong to me--all the examples seem to give time as examples, but mention "space". 
 
Hmmm, maybe my feeling here is wrong/regional.

18 Oct 2013     



ueslteacher
Ukraine

so in your opinion in "a ten-days � trip" the attributive refers to space, not time?

18 Oct 2013     



douglas
United States

a "ten-day trip"  (no S and no apostrophe) 

18 Oct 2013     



yanogator
United States

Sophia,

Douglas is saying that in this example, the trip is space, not time. Your link showed things like "in two days � time", rather than showing things like "a two-day trip". As he said, it could be an AmE thing. I definitely agree with him on AmE usage in this case.
 
@Douglas,
I hope I haven�t misrepresented you.
 
Bruce

18 Oct 2013     



dillydi
United Kingdom

The campers went on a 20 kilometres hike�.

or 

The campers completed a 20 kilometres hike 

As stated, the possessive apostrophe applies, but in this case, the hike does not belong to the kilometres.

18 Oct 2013     



ueslteacher
Ukraine

Thank you, guys, for sharing your opinions!

18 Oct 2013     



FrauSue
France

I went on a 20-mile walk (never plural, never possessive).
There are 20 miles of paths in this canyon. (plural, but not possessive).
I went on a 2-hour walk ((never plural, never possessive).
I �ll be there in 2 days � time (possessive and plural).
It �s a whole day �s work (possessive).
It �s a 1-day job (not possessive).

I tend to use the apostrophe if you can give the idea of "worth of" - it �s one day �s "worth of" work, but the job took one day (factual). Similarly, it �s a hike whose length is a certain number of kilometres, but I can �t think of a sentence when we use distances with the possessive apostrophe. 

25 Oct 2013     

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