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I want to refer to parties that are hosted for players.

Which of the following phrases is grammatically correct?

  • "Player Parties"
  • "Players Parties"
  • "Players' Parties"
  • "Player's Parties"

A sentence where I might use this phrase is as follows:

"We host [...]"

Intended usage: I want to use the phrase in a promotional clip alongside a party that is taking place. The clip will show the party happening, and the phrase will appear over the video to describe the event taking place in the clip.

The parties are put on for players to provide an opportunity for them to socialize, meet other players and relax.

This reference cites the two main uses of the apostrophe that we are all familiar with (the possessive and to indicate omitted letters).

  • In the context I have used the phrase, do the parties belong to the players?
  • Which of the four above phrases would best match my intended meaning?

This is most certainly not a duplicate of the question related by Edwin, I am referring to the specific case I have outlined above, which is dependent on the correct meaning to be ascribed to this phrase, as per my intended usage.

Gary
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    Just say "Player Parties". It gets the idea across, it's simple and sounds like a party that players go to, rather than a party which is hosted by a player. – Max Williams Aug 04 '16 at 14:18
  • Edwin this is most certainly not a duplicate, I am referring to the specific case I have outlined above. – Gary Aug 04 '16 at 14:41
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    Marking a question duplicate does not mean it is exactly the same question. In fact, when two questions are exactly the same, they are merged. When questions differ only in example and can have the same answer (except for example), they are duplicates. In this case both questions are how to create the grammatically correct plurals of compound nouns and how to punctuate the plurals. The only difference is the example. – MetaEd Aug 04 '16 at 20:51
  • This is so unrelated it's unreal. I find the purported duplication laughable actually. I have referred to a very specific case in this question, and the answer depends on the intended usage as I have outlined above. The question is as much about the meaning that best captures the intended usage as is it about where (or indeed if at all) an apostrophe should be placed. – Gary Aug 04 '16 at 23:06

1 Answers1

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All of those four are potentially correct.

The two with apostrophes indicate possessive, i.e. that the parties are in some sense 'belonging' to the players.

English also uses noun strings (which is what the first two examples are) to indicate association. The first two indicate parties that are in some way 'associated with' players.

'Players parties' is the one most likely to be thought of as incorrect, since 'player parties' indicates an association with players in general, not a singular player, making 'players parties' redundant.

DJClayworth
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    I agree with what you say, but without an apostrophe I would probably insert a hyphen. – WS2 Aug 04 '16 at 14:05
  • Interesting thanks @DJClayworth the idea you've mentioned that 'player parties' carries the association with players in general, is important here I think. The creatives came back with 'players parties' which didn't look right to me, but the more I thought about it the more I became increasingly conflicted about the correct usuage. You've kind of articulated one of the reasons that the phrase 'players parties' jumped out at me as being wrong I would say, I couldn't pinpoint why it seemed out of place at the time. – Gary Aug 04 '16 at 14:07
  • @WS2 interesting, why would you insert a hyphen versus not doing so, in this particular case? – Gary Aug 04 '16 at 14:12
  • Of course your marketing-types may decide that style is more important than grammatical correctness. – DJClayworth Aug 04 '16 at 14:28