There would be examples when an apostrophe would be correct. For eg you might say, '1971's notable moments included...." And equally therefore also "The 1970s' notable moments included..."

That's because here the year and the decade are functioning as nouns. But in the house example, the seventies function as a adjective, not a noun.

I agree, Flora. In those examples, you could reword it along the lines of "The notable moments of the 1970s included...", so in that case you are showing possession. In fact, the reworded version is exactly how you would have to phrase it in German or Russian (or French). In Russian and German, you would have to use the genitive case, and our possessive form is exactly the same thing. The only difference between English and German, in fact, is that you don't need an apostrophe in German.

There would be examples when an apostrophe would be correct. For eg you might say, "1971's notable moments included...." And equally therefore also "The 1970s' notable moments included..."

Yes, exactly.

I suspect the feeling that one should write 60's in the normal way of things comes from the vague unease that sticking an S on the end of something which isn't exactly making a plural (because "The Sixties" isn't exactly a plural of "The Sixty"), asks for an apostrophe.

But "70s", after all, is really a way of writing "Seventies", and you wouldn't write "Seventie's"...

Terry Pratchett did a parody of all this, in Going Postal. One of the minor characters is a grocer, who whenever he speaks has apostrophes before every single s. You had to know the correct usage of an apostrophe, and how it frequently gets misused, to understand the joke.

Thanks Flora - the explanation of the possessive s and this

That's because here the year and the decade are functioning as nouns. But in the house example, the seventies function as a adjective, not a noun.

is very helpful.


In this instance, I had been thinking of the date as being possessive, rather than the adjective I was using. Although I looked it up on the internet, I only found what I knew about 70s and 80s, etc. and I couldn't find the specific info I needed.

Thank you!