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I come across both quite often: mom's phone and mom phone, teachers' day and teachers day etc. They all seem to be correct. So is there a tendency to use less the possessive case nowadays especially in AmEn?

anna299
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  • I'm getting the feeling that fewer and fewer people know how to use apostrophes properly. I often see them used to make a noun plural! One of the reasons for this may be that schools are no longer teaching grammar like they used to. I talk to a lot of people in their 30s and 40s who come from educated families and went to universities considered to be good, and they tell me that they were not taught grammar rules in their K-12 schools. Most have never heard of digramming sentences. I wonder if uncertainty about apostrophes is making them avoid using possessives. – Isabel Archer Apr 19 '20 at 12:23
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    Another factor is that of the irregularity of certain nouns, for example we have "a summer's day" / "a winter's day", but "a spring day" / "an autumn day" (not "a spring's day / "an autumn's day"), where a plain-case nominal is used instead of the genitive case. – BillJ Apr 19 '20 at 13:38
  • Does this answer your question? What’s the correct plural possessive of “kids”? "According to ‘The Cambridge Guide to English Usage’, the removal of the apostrophe from 'plural nouns in phrases which express affiliation . . . is widespread in the English-speaking world' and has the imprimatur of the American Associated Press stylebook and the Australian government Style Manual ...." [@Barrie England's answer] And there's always Veterans Day in the States. And working mens clubs in the UK. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 19 '20 at 14:45
  • Does this answer your question? What’s the correct plural possessive of “kids”? – jimm101 Apr 21 '20 at 01:54
  • @BillJ, I've met autumn's day [https://www.poeticexpressions.co.uk/poems/a-reflection-on-an-autumns-day/] All is possible in poetry)) – anna299 Apr 21 '20 at 17:20
  • @jimm101, honestly, not the full. As far as I understand, this discussion [https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/78476/what-s-the-correct-plural-possessive-of-kids] says that both forms have equal rights to live but says nothing about the tendency to use the possessive case less or more nowadays. – anna299 Apr 21 '20 at 17:28
  • @Edwin Ashworth, thanks for the reply. Not to the full. Please see the post above. – anna299 Apr 21 '20 at 17:32
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    From Roslyn Petelin, Quartz: Driving along William Street in the Brisbane CBD in 1990, I was horrified to notice painters putting the finishing touches to the signage for the about-to-be-opened Queensland Writers’ Centre. It was without an apostrophe. A phone call to the committee soon corrected that oversight and the apostrophe was used for a while, though the battle was lost in later years. It’s now known as the Queensland Writers Centre and it hosts the Brisbane Writers Festival each year. [bolding mine] – Edwin Ashworth Apr 21 '20 at 18:59
  • @Edwin Ashworth, thanks a lot for the link! So the tendency is to simplify as usual). – anna299 Apr 21 '20 at 20:35
  • I find it amusing writing sentences like "We found the men's wallets at the working mens club." "The dogs' home is only a street away from the local dogs home." – Edwin Ashworth Apr 22 '20 at 13:53
  • @Edwin Ashworth, me as well. I always enjoy reading your posts)) – anna299 Apr 23 '20 at 13:50

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