This I can't figure. Ist person narrative, conversational style, narrator refers to Care in the Community cases using the phrase as a noun in the plural. Is it

...time to check on the Care in the Community's... ?

or

...time to check on the Care in the Communities...

Or is there another solution?

Slang is CiC's prounounced kicks, but haven't established that yet.

Pete

The second one is right.

<Added>

'CiC's pronounced kicks' has an apostrophe because the proonunced kicks belong to the CiCs.

Plurals never have apostrophes, just an addesd 's' or 'ies' or 'es' or whatever.

Apostrophes are to indicate possession - the girl's bike, the dog's ball, etc. The only time you don't use an apostrophe for possession is if you're talking about something that belongs to 'it' - eg 'I went for a walk and saw a dog. Its leg was bleeding.' - That's cos 'it's' means 'it is.'



<Added>

Apologies for my typo in 'pronounced.' It is a typo - honest!

Yes, I'd agree - I see why the apostrophe is tempting, but there's nothing possessive or abbreviated about that plural s. You could hyphenate: Care-in-the-Communities if you wanted to make it clear the whole phrase is a single (not singular!) noun.

Emma

Thanks Sarah and Emma

The hyphenating makes it work as Communities.

Hurrah.

Pete

<Added>

Hmmm still reads like care in several communities tho. Aargh!

P

FWIW, Cholera, I'd have had no idea about this - I'm guessing a copy-editor would pick it up.

Hi there Pete

Oh right - so you don't want it to read like care in several communities. In which case, I reckon that it would be 'Care in the Communitys'. I know that looks wierd, but I personally think it makes sense in this particular context.

Because if you said, for example,

"I'm going to go and check on the cats"

you definitely wouldn't say

"I'm going to go and check on the catties"

or

"I'm going to go and check on the cat's"

Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, anybody.

I think the most important rule is never, ever to use 's for anything that isn't a possessive (except of course his, hers, its and theirs), or an abbreviation (it's, there's).

There are trickinesses that everyone knows only copy editors know the answer to, but this isn't one of them. Book trade people are brought up proof-reading, and they do know this stuff, and they will notice it in your submission. And - unfairly, perhaps - they'll assume that it's ignorance of basic grammar and punctuation, or laziness about not checking, not the tricky spelling problem it really is, that has prompted you to use it.

Emma

<Added>

Mermaid, many apologies, I misread the inverted comma in your post as an apostrophe, and took it from there, and I should have looked harder first. I see exactly what you mean, and maybe it's the best solution, weird or not.

Pete - could you for the first time just say 'Care-in-the-community people', to explain to the reader? Even if it's not strictly authentic? Then I think in later mentions you could probaly use '-communities' and everyone would know what you mean.

And despite what I said above, this is a copy-editor's problem more than yours, so don't get too worried about it!

Oh right - so you don't want it to read like care in several communities. In which case, I reckon that it would be 'Care in the Communitys'.

Ok. I see. This could be right.

There is a great book for all this stuff called Practical English Usage, by Swann. Also, probably simpler to use, is English Grammar in Use by someone I can't remember. English Grammer in Use is designed for foreign sudents of English, but it's a very useful reference tool for anyone. I'd recommend Intermediate or Advanced level, though Advanced is often beyond me.

Also, at the back of Linda Anderson's book Creative Writing is a detailed section on grammar.

Emma

I've gone for 'Care in the Community lot', pretty much as per your suggestion, then CiCs after that, which works.

Thanks everyone.

Pete

Sarah, mermaid,

Thanks for your help here.

Pete

That sounds like a good solution to me. This question was bugging me while I was in the bath this evening, and I kept thinking, 'Well, you don't say cupfuls, you say cups full, so maybe you say cares in the community' which sounds ridiculous.

So it sounds like you've arrived at a good solution there.

It's a tester tho, because people do say things like 'there's too many care in the communitys round here...' but how you render that real speech grammatically, or even just readably, I'm at a loss to know, which is a shame because authenticity calls for it really, rather than for the solution above which is arrived at really for grammar's sake...

It should be possible...

Any more ideas?

Pete



<Added>

maybe that's the answer: "care in the communitys" or is that unnacceptable?

You know, Cholero, at times like this I think it's best to draw on that all-important phrase: Fuck it.

<Added>

OOh. Sorry. Forgot this isn't the lounge.

But seriously, if you've racked your brain and no one knows, forget it. It'll all sort itself out one day.

Sarah

Thanks very much for your advice.

Pete

I only think things like that when you tie yourself up in knots over detail that, eventually, someone else will sort out for you. It's liberating to sit back and say, 'Right. I'm defeated by this.' It means you can channel all your energies into worrying about some other aspect of the book instead.