Banana sales versus teachers' salaries

Question

Can you explain why:"banana sales" does not require 's while teachers' salaries do? we use the plural form of teacher but not with banana.and how can I search for words that need to be in the plural form and 's?Thank you a lot!

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

phoebe phoebe"banana sales" does not require 's while teachers' salaries do?

They don't, either. You will see "teacher salaries", "teacher's salaries", teachers' salaries", every combination, and they all work.

phoebe phoebeand how can I search for words that need to be in the plural form and 's?

I don't think any of them do.

CalifJim · Answer

phoebe phoebe
Can you explain why:
"banana sales" does not require 's while teachers' salaries do?

The forms with apostrophes ( ' ) are most often seen with words that refer to human beings but not with words for inanimate objects.

her mother's new dress; the managers' duties, Shakespeare's play
the freedom march, restaurant prices, a soup can

The of-construction, a third choice, is typical with quantities:

three glasses of water, a box of chocolates, a small group of men

phoebe phoebewe use the plural form of teacher but not with banana.

The form with an apostrophe can be singular or plural: professor's (belonging to one professor), professors' (belonging to more than one professor).

The first element of the compound noun form is almost always singular: paper clip, paper clips. Exceptions to this pattern are rare: sports equipment.

phoebe phoebewords that need to be in the plural form and 's

I'm not sure what you're asking here, but the plural forms that take 's are few and far between. The only ones you'll probably need for everyday use are people's, men's, women's, and children's (all irregular plurals that don't end in 's'). The plurals that end in s just add the apostrophe (teachers', boys', actors').

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

There is no genitive (possessive) meaning in "banana sales"; it's simply the usual way of saying "sales of bananas". Similarly "house sales", "ticket sales" and the like.

The matter of descriptive genitives is somewhat unusual and confusing.

For example, we say a glorious summer's day, but plain case a cold autumn day.

And we say a ship's doctor, but plain case a school doctor.

Likewise we say fisherman's cottages, but plain case country cottages.

To add to the confusion teachers' salaries is also written as teacher salaries!

I'm afraid it's a matter of familiarising yourself with which of the two forms (genitive or plain) works with which nouns.

Banana sales versus teachers' salaries

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