To apostrophe or not

Question

In a phrase such as "planning programs for masters students," is masters a possessive?  If so, does it have an apostrophe-s or an s-apostrophe?  What if it read "masters degree students"?  Thanks in advance for your help!

Chameleon · Accepted Answer

I think the first case is just a simple mistake that is ignored because it is a convenient way to speak. People are "master's degree students". People are not "master's students" (implying that they belong to "master"). The word "degree" is just left out because of verbal laziness. Also, the word "masters" is not an adjective, so it cannot describe "students".

The confusion comes from the word "degree" being left out so often that the word "masters" is thought of as an adjective specifying what kind of students, rather than a modifier for "degree". Actually, the word "degree" is omitted so frequently that the word "master's" is even sometimes treated as a noun!

Ex.- "Are you going to school for your master's?" (master's WHAT? Degree of course!)

So the answer is that in all cases (that I can think of...), "master's degree students" is correct, and "masters students" is just a simple mistake that no one cares about.

Confusingly, the phrase is often written that way as well, although it's really incorrect.

To apostrophe or not

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