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Post by Paul Doherty on Jun 16, 2008 13:04:09 GMT
Can we not write, He compared the voters'-reaction reports against the journalists'-preference findings? No, I don't think we can! I'd certainly write He compared the voter-reaction reports against the journalist-preference findings. I'm struggling to think of any adjectival use where we use the plural: - Student health reports - Employee fitness programme - Customer service improvement Even less so with inanimate objects: - Tree warden recruitment I suppose we could try our old favourites, but they tend to be singular compound nouns: - Accounts department expansion - Communications department shutdown - Sports car showroom Singular possessive is easier: Wasp's nest removal product Crow's feet smoothing creme But then it's all complicated by the fact that none of them really need a hyphen. I feel an s-apostrophe AND a hyphen is unheard of.
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Post by Dave M on Jun 16, 2008 13:53:58 GMT
Oh, I can't say I've heard of the construction (and can't therefore quote an accepted example), but I question whether that means we can't have it. After all, my example of a whole omelette's-worth of mushrooms came naturally - and had it been enough mushrooms for two omelettes ...
I wouldn't say two omelette worths of mushrooms (to follow your pattern of singular adjectives) - would you?
We could say two omelettes-worth of mushrooms - but that's not quite the same thing! It's the plural-once-removed of one omelette-worth, and I started with the possessive one omelette's worth ... which (I think ...) is perfectly valid!
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