three days' work

[navi]

Which are correct:

1) Building the outhouse will take three days' work.
2) Building the outhouse will take three days work.

3) You can undergo an abortion by taking a medication (up to 9 weeks
gestation) or having a surgical procedure.
4) You can undergo an abortion by taking a medication (up to 9 weeks'
gestation) or having a surgical procedure.
5) You can undergo an abortion by taking a medication (up to 9 weeks of
gestation) or having a surgical procedure.

'3' can be found here.

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/abortion-in-victoria

I don't like '3'.


--
Gratefully,
Navi


Lost in the Twilight Zone of the English language
Obsessed with ambiguity
Interested in strange structures

[LionelEdwards]

Post by navi
1) Building the outhouse will take three days' work.
2) Building the outhouse will take three days work.

"Three days work" is understandable as a period of time,
without it needing to belong to anyone or anything.

[Aidan Kehoe]

Post by LionelEdwards

Post by navi
1) Building the outhouse will take three days' work.
2) Building the outhouse will take three days work.

"Three days work" is understandable as a period of time,
without it needing to belong to anyone or anything.

For me the apostrophe is correct, because if the construction were apposition
rather than a genitive, *“Building the outhouse will take one day work.” would
be grammatical, which it is not.

The work belongs to “three days.”

[Hibou]

Post by Aidan Kehoe

Post by LionelEdwards

Post by navi
1) Building the outhouse will take three days' work.
2) Building the outhouse will take three days work.

"Three days work" is understandable as a period of time,
without it needing to belong to anyone or anything.

For me the apostrophe is correct, because if the construction were apposition
rather than a genitive, *“Building the outhouse will take one day work.” would
be grammatical, which it is not.
The work belongs to “three days.”

Yes. One would say "This will take a day's work". It must be a genitive.

[LionelEdwards]

Post by Hibou

Post by Aidan Kehoe

Post by LionelEdwards

Post by navi
1) Building the outhouse will take three days' work.
2) Building the outhouse will take three days work.

"Three days work" is understandable as a period of time,
without it needing to belong to anyone or anything.

For me the apostrophe is correct, because if the construction were apposition
rather than a genitive, *“Building the outhouse will take one day work.” would
be grammatical, which it is not.
The work belongs to “three days.”

Yes. One would say "This will take a day's work". It must be
a genitive.

To me "three days work" is a "three day job", and I wouldn't
touch it with an apostrophe in a month of Sundays.

Now you come to mention it though; should that be a month of
Sundays' or a month of Sunday's? Do the Sundays own all
the days of the week in equal shares, or do they own one
day each?

[Aidan Kehoe]

Post by LionelEdwards

[...] Yes. One would say "This will take a day's work". It must be a
genitive.

To me "three days work" is a "three day job", and I wouldn't
touch it with an apostrophe in a month of Sundays.

“Three day job” is apposition, and there’s no S involved. The Germans, who fret
a bit more about parts of speech, would make it into a compound noun. “Three
days’ work” is a different construction. Again, would you say “building the
outhouse will take one day work”?

Post by LionelEdwards
Now you come to mention it though; should that be a month of Sundays' or a
month of Sunday's? Do the Sundays own all the days of the week in equal
shares, or do they own one day each?

No apostrophe needed, “a month of Sundays” means twenty eight to thirty-one
Sundays, so about 200 days. It’s just plural.

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Post by Aidan Kehoe

Post by LionelEdwards
To me "three days work" is a "three day job", and I wouldn't
touch it with an apostrophe in a month of Sundays.

“Three day job” is apposition, and there’s no S involved. The Germans, who fret
a bit more about parts of speech, would make it into a compound noun.

So would Danes: "tredages job" where the s is a pure genitive. We only
have s-plural with a few words of English origin.

[Hibou]

Post by LionelEdwards

Post by Hibou
Yes. One would say "This will take a day's work". It must be
a genitive.

To me "three days work" is a "three day job", and I wouldn't
touch it with an apostrophe in a month of Sundays.

I think those are different constructions. I assume you'd write "it's
one day's work" - if not, what would you write? - and what can that be
but a genitive? "Three days' work" must also be one, for consistency's sake.

It's an interesting point, though, and I'm not grammarian enough to
elucidate it. Not all genitives indicate possession. If one says "the
train's destination", does the train own its destination? Does the
Flying Scotsman own London?¹

Post by LionelEdwards
Now you come to mention it though; should that be a month of
Sundays' or a month of Sunday's? Do the Sundays own all
the days of the week in equal shares, or do they own one
day each?

Just a plural, like 'a group of people'. I believe one can reword all
genitives as ofs (as one must in French, which has no genitive form),
but not all ofs are genitives.

¹The 'Flying Scotsman' now runs once a day in one direction.
<https://www.thenational.scot/culture/23764077.flying-scotsman-route-lost-none-sparkle/>

[Chris Elvidge]

Post by navi
1) Building the outhouse will take three days' work.
2) Building the outhouse will take three days work.
3) You can undergo an abortion by taking a medication (up to 9 weeks
gestation) or having a surgical procedure.
4) You can undergo an abortion by taking a medication (up to 9 weeks'
gestation) or having a surgical procedure.
5) You can undergo an abortion by taking a medication (up to 9 weeks of
gestation) or having a surgical procedure.

Your possessives are wrong; days and weeks do not possess anything.
(Is an outhouse something one would build?)
'a medication' isn't an 'a'; it's just 'medication'
'up to 9 weeks gestation' is perfectly reasonable in English

So:
Building the outhouse(!) will take 3 days.
You can undergo an abortion by taking medication (up to 9 weeks (of)
gestation) or (by) having a surgical procedure.

Second 'of' is unnecessary; repeating 'by' is better, here.

Post by navi
'3' can be found here.
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/abortion-in-victoria
I don't like '3'.
--
Gratefully,
Navi
Lost in the Twilight Zone of the English language
Obsessed with ambiguity
Interested in strange structures

[Peter Moylan]

Post by Chris Elvidge

Post by navi
1) Building the outhouse will take three days' work.
2) Building the outhouse will take three days work.
3) You can undergo an abortion by taking a medication (up to 9 weeks
gestation) or having a surgical procedure.
4) You can undergo an abortion by taking a medication (up to 9 weeks'
gestation) or having a surgical procedure.
5) You can undergo an abortion by taking a medication (up to 9 weeks of
gestation) or having a surgical procedure.

Your possessives are wrong; days and weeks do not possess anything.

On the contrary, the versions with the apostrophe are the most correct.

It is a common but false belief that a possessive construction requires
that something be possessed. Whoever it was who invented the term
"possessive" to replace what used to be called the genitive has a lot to
answer for.

Post by Chris Elvidge
(Is an outhouse something one would build?)

Somebody has to build them. They don't just magically appear.