BrookValley. Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 (edited) What is actually correct? Will somebody please--oh pretty please--save me from myself? My brain prevents me from knowing. It's the funniest (most infuriating?) thing. I cannot rationalize it any way I try. Can't understand it to save my life. What the *! is right? :lol: * sigh * Want to know the sad part? I'm a technical editor by trade. For the life of me, in all the years I've been doing this, I've yet to shake the mental block I have over years of experience. Or years experience. Or however the heck it should be written. Anyone else have an infuriating grammar hang-up? There's plenty of room here at my pity party. :tongue_smilie: ETA: I always use the 'of,' even though I don't know why. Edited February 13, 2012 by BrookValley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 should make a poll Ds17 says OF Ds16 says he has no idea I say no OF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplain Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 It should be either "5 years' experience" or "5 years of experience." The apostrophe is not optional! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 It should be either "5 years' experience" or "5 years of experience."The apostrophe is not optional! :) :iagree: The apostrophe s *means* of. (Ha! There's a horrible sentence.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrookValley. Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 I hate apostrophes. It's not their fault they are misused so often. Poor apostrophes. It's an unfair bias, for sure, but see how my mind won't even allow me to entertain 'years' experience' as an option? I couldn't even include it in my poll. :) I think that's why I also have a hard time using 'of.' It's used too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca VA Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Jplain and zaichiki are correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Five years of experience or five years' experience is correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 "years" does not modify "experience" the way it can modify "old" in the phrase five years old. You need to either have the apostrophe to make it possessive or add the preposition "of". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Agreeing: it's either five years' experience or five years of experience. Same with five weeks' notice, etc. Note: Almost NO ONE does this correctly. I am surprised and happy when I see it done properly. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 On a related note, the name of this movie makes me want to scream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrookValley. Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 You folks have no idea how you've very nearly saved my sanity this evening. I've struggled with this for years. I actually feel like I've got it under control. Finally. :lol: Now if I could spell the word tomorrow (on my own and without the benefit of spellcheck), I'd be going places... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrookValley. Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 I can't be too judgemental about that movie poster (seeing as I started this thread :tongue_smilie:), but I do really have a hard time with a lot of stuff I see in print. For heaven's sake, if you're gonna put the time, money, and effort into any sort of publication or mass-produced document/whathaveyou, it should be edited thoroughly. I noticed this morning that the text on my carton of flax milk had rogue apostrophes. Surely more than one person is responsible for content on this kind of stuff--no one noticed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enviromommy Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 On a related note, the name of this movie makes me want to scream. Way back when, my dad tried to convince an executive at Disney not to name a movie "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." It should be either "Honey, I SHRANK the Kids," or "Honey, I HAVE SHRUNK the Kids." They looked at him as if he had two heads. Oh, well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 It makes many people want to scream. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Way back when, my dad tried to convince an executive at Disney not to name a movie "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." It should be either "Honey, I SHRANK the Kids," or "Honey, I HAVE SHRUNK the Kids." They looked at him as if he had two heads. Oh, well. LOL. Whenever I hear that movie title, I think to myself that they might as well have called it "Honey, I Done Shrunk the Kids" :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 LOL. Whenever I hear that movie title, I think to myself that they might as well have called it "Honey, I Done Shrunk the Kids" :001_smile: And now a whole generation of kids is going to get "shrunk" into their ears and think that it sounds *right*... which means they'll use it that way... and it'll become accepted... and grammatically correct! :glare: Dontcha just LOVE that convention?! Sigh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enviromommy Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 And now a whole generation of kids is going to get "shrunk" into their ears and think that it sounds *right*... which means they'll use it that way... and it'll become accepted... and grammatically correct! :glare: Dontcha just LOVE that convention?! Sigh! Actually, the whole category of verbs with their past tense in "ank" and past participle in "unk" is being lost. People say "The boat sunk" as well. It's only a matter of time before "I drunk it" is considered standard English. Although it also goes in the other direction - I hear a lot of "I had drank." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Actually, the whole category of verbs with their past tense in "ank" and past participle in "unk" is being lost. People say "The boat sunk" as well. It's only a matter of time before "I drunk it" is considered standard English. Although it also goes in the other direction - I hear a lot of "I had drank." I say let's make the whole thing simpler. Every type of past tense for every verb should be "ed." Let's do away with irregulars altogether! Imagine! Even the 3 year olds would be grammatically correct! LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janie Grace Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 It should be either "5 years' experience" or "5 years of experience."The apostrophe is not optional! :) :iagree: I voted other, because it's both -- if you add the apostrophe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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