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- Title
Apostrophes: feeling possessive?
- Authors
Clark, Richard A. C.
- Abstract
Apostrophes to denote possession can be controversial, with some authors and editors arguing that we should use them less, or that they should be eliminated altogether. Indeed, there is a trend to prefer the nonpossessive form of eponymic terms (eg Down syndrome rather than Down's syndrome). Some medical writing organisations have eliminated apostrophes from their titles (ie the American Medical Writers Association, or AMWA, and the European Medical Writers Association, or EMWA). It has been argued that there is no possession and therefore no need for an apostrophe, but I maintain that this is incorrect. (The word "Writers" in both examples describes the members of the association, thus it is a descriptive genitive and so should have an apostrophe.) Other organisations have circumvented this potential problem, such as the European Association of Science Editors (EASE). Possession is also confused frequently with ownership, but whilst possession encompasses ownership it is a much broader notion. Those eager to avoid apostrophes can sometimes distort meaning, such as changing an event "new members' welcome drinks" to a statement that "new members welcome drinks". If we can understand the simple grammatical concept of possession then possessive apostrophes are simple to use. Moreover, the use of apostrophes enriches the English language, providing extra information and clarity of communication in writing within science and medicine, and in general writing.
- Subjects
APOSTROPHE (Punctuation); POSSESSIVES (Grammar); EPONYMS; MEDICAL writing; ENGLISH language
- Publication
European Science Editing, 2014, Vol 40, Issue 2, p41
- ISSN
0258-3127
- Publication type
Article