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Paul Evdokimov Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

noun+noun or possessive?

I got confused with the following: according to R.Murphy we should say 'a four-week course' or 'a three-hour journey', whereas further he writes: 'We also use -s` with plural words for periods of time: Julia has got three weeks` holiday. It`s ten minutes` walk.'
So my 1st question is 'Are both options (i.e. 'a four-week course' and 'four weeks` course') grammatically correct?' And my second one is 'What`s happened with an article in 'Julia has got three weeks` holiday'? I mean, why can`t/shouldn`t we put any before `three weeks`?
  

Top answer

First, may I point out that you are using the wrong character for the apostrophe. You are using a grave accent `, whereas it should be (in ordinary computing use) the same character as you use for the single quote ' "Julia has three weeks' holiday" has no article for the same reason that "Julia has Angela's pen" has no article. The possessive noun functions as a determiner, so we don't need another one.

— GPY

  • First, may I point out that you are using the wrong character for the apostrophe.
  • You are using a grave accent `, whereas it should be (in ordinary computing use) the same character as you use for the single quote ' "Julia has three weeks' holiday" has no article for the same reason that "Julia has Angela's pen" has no article.
  • The possessive noun functions as a determiner, so we don't need another one.
  • The list of nouns that work naturally in the pattern like "three weeks' holiday" or "ten minutes' walk" is probably not tremendously long, and "course" is not one of them.
  • I am not sure that there is any rule-based way to determine which nouns work.
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2 Answers
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First, may I point out that you are using the wrong character for the apostrophe. You are using a grave accent `, whereas it should be (in ordinary computing use) the same character as you use for the single quote '

"Julia has three weeks' holiday" has no article for the same reason that "Julia has Angela's pen" has no article. The possessive noun functions as a determiner, so we don't ne
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Paul EvdokimovWhat`s happened with an article in 'Julia has got three weeks` holiday'? I mean, why can`t/shouldn`t we put any before `three weeks`?
There are two different versions of this:

Julia has three weeks' holiday. I use this to mean that each year, Julia is entitled to 15 days of holiday time (5 days per week.)

Julia is planning
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