Christmas lunches

[kennysarmy]

Should there be an apostrophe?

[elsiegee40]

No. Why?

 

Lunches are a plural and Christmas isn’t. No apostrophe.

[localzuk]

Christmas' Lunch'es?

[Norphy]

Are you in the Grocers Guild?

[elsiegee40]

Grocers’ Guild [emoji849]

 

Edited December 19, 2019 by elsiegee40

[localzuk]

Grocers's' Guild obviously!

[Norphy]

Should there be an apostrophe?

 

Anyway, in answer to your question, not unless you're talking about your Christmas lunch's roast potatoes or something.

[PotNoodleTech]

noun: Christmas

plural noun: Christmases

 

noun: lunch

plural noun: lunches

[DJ-1701]

Should there be an apostrophe?

 

No, it should be air quotes...

 

Christmas 'lunches'.

[elsiegee40]

noun: Christmas

plural noun: Christmases

 

noun: lunch

plural noun: lunches

 

I think, in this case, the word Christmas is actually an adjective describing the noun lunches.

 

The noun is plural, but you don’t make the adjective plural as well.

 

EDIT

 

Isn’t it nice to get back to some traditional EduGeek pedantry in place of political wrangling? [emoji23]

[6Foot2]

The Christmas lunch's not gone down so well this year?

[FishCustard]

My quandary is always about "Parents' Evening".

 

Is it "Parents' Evening" as in "it is the parents' evening to meet with teaching staff", or just "Parents Evening" as in the descriptive "an evening involving parents".

 

I always went with the former, after much discussion with a Headteacher* (and ex-English teacher) I used to work with.

 

Some schools use "Parent's Evening", which to me doesn't sit right at all. There are multiple parents involved, so the plural must be used.

 

 

 

* There's debate about this one too - is it "Head Teacher" or "Headteacher". The person in question here insisted on the latter!

Edited December 19, 2019 by FishCustard

[elsiegee40]

My quandary is always about "Parents' Evening".

 

Is it "Parents' Evening" as in "it is the parents' evening to meet with teaching staff", or just "Parents Evening" as in the descriptive "an evening involving parents".

 

I always went with the former, after much discussion with a Headteacher (and ex-English teacher) I used to work with.

 

Some schools use "Parent's Evening", which to me doesn't sit right at all. There are multiple parents involved, so the plural must be used.

 

Maybe that’s why so many schools have Parent Consultation Evenings instead

[FishCustard]

Nope, too long winded! Also somewhat inaccurate as the general purpose is informing parents of their child(ren)'s progress or lack of it, rather than consulting them on anything.

 

We couldn't use "Parent Information Evening" as that was the start-of-year event for parents of children joining the school.

[kennysarmy]

Obviously I was 'asking for a friend'

[DJ-1701]

We couldn't use "Parent Information Evening" as that was the start-of-year event for parents of children joining the school.

 

Someone must have really liked PIE.

[6Foot2]

My quandary is always about "Parents' Evening".

 

Is it "Parents' Evening" as in "it is the parents' evening to meet with teaching staff", or just "Parents Evening" as in the descriptive "an evening involving parents".

 

I always went with the former, after much discussion with a Headteacher* (and ex-English teacher) I used to work with.

 

Some schools use "Parent's Evening", which to me doesn't sit right at all. There are multiple parents involved, so the plural must be used.

 

 

 

* There's debate about this one too - is it "Head Teacher" or "Headteacher". The person in question here insisted on the latter!

 

Link: Apostrophe Rules [YourDictionary.com]

 

 

Re: "Head Teacher" or "Headteacher" here our Headteacher prefers Headteacher.

 

[FishCustard]

Our one here has said effectively "I do not care as long as it is consistent". It's "Head Teacher" on all school materials/signage so that's what she uses.

[localzuk]

It should be Headteacher, as it is a specific word - https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/headteacher

[kennysarmy]

What about a list of subjects...where only English is capitalised?

[localzuk]

Apparently, if its a list of subjects, then it should be only things like English and French that are capitalised. I suppose it depends if you're using them as pronouns or just nouns.

 

So, at a university you'd say the Maths Department, but the subject you study is maths. That'd be my take on it anyway!

[FishCustard]

It should be Headteacher, as it is a specific word - https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/headteacher

Interesting, which is probably why our ex-English teacher HT used that one - he'd know that, he was a fountain of linguistic knowledge.

 

 

What about a list of subjects...where only English is capitalised?

IMO all subject names should be capitalised when used in the context of identifying the subject itself.

 

(e.g. "Science" should be capitalised when talking about the Science Department or if listing all the A-Level subjects available for study, but not in "the science behind flight" for instance)

[mikeprice]

What about a list of subjects...where only English is capitalised?

 

What about IT (or ICT)

 

or PE

 

or RE

[DalekSec]

This is too political for me, i hope this is closed down for xmas also!

 

 

I'm kidding obviously! Also i have real bad dyslexia, so don't go asking me!

[StevieM]

My quandary is always about "Parents' Evening".

 

Is it "Parents' Evening" as in "it is the parents' evening to meet with teaching staff", or just "Parents Evening" as in the descriptive "an evening involving parents".

 

I always went with the former, after much discussion with a Headteacher* (and ex-English teacher) I used to work with.^

 

Now I always go with the latter, in the same manner as Sports Day; the parents don’t own the evening and sports don’t own the day.

 

(^And its “with whom I used to work”!)

 

Edited December 19, 2019 by StevieM