Using a leaders guide in a doctoral dissertation, does the title "Leaders Guide" have an apostrophe?
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1Does this answer your question? traveller's cheques; customer's requirements: use of the singular Saxon genitive (and the plural attributive) for association Essentially, the apostrophised versions are rather old-fashioned now, and the plural attributive form is often chosen for associative-rather-than-truly-possessive examples. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 11 '20 at 13:49
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"Leaders" here looks like an attributive noun, and so would not need the apostrophe. A relatively clear explanation can be found here: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-attributive-noun-1689012
According to that page (which lists its sources, though it's hard to say which one this is from):
The apostrophe is omitted when a plural head noun ending in s functions as an adjective rather than as a possessor
Presumably the guide is not possessed by leaders but is written to guide leaders. So you would not need an apostrophe in this case.
wallace
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@EdwinAshworth Apologies! I did not follow the links in your comment but for no good reason assumed they were external links. My bad. – wallace Jun 11 '20 at 14:34
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just curious as to why the downvote. this answer does in fact add to the information provided in the link in the comment. – wallace Jun 23 '20 at 13:31
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There are so many previous answers. See, for instance, attributive or possessive noun? the Dell Company's staff or the Dell Company staff (itself closed as a duplicate). It is not helpful to have a different question posted for every conceivable example. And ignoring claimed duplicates ("Apologies. I did not follow") is a sure way to increase bloatware. And 'There is a move away from the use of the apostrophe ... – Edwin Ashworth Jun 23 '20 at 16:59
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in the 'adjectival' (rather than the 'true possessive') sense' is quite clear; there is a further link to the original source. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 23 '20 at 17:01