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Langtraveler Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
worth
Hello.
I've known when using 'worth', one put an apostrophe+s after the amount of money or term like these ones:
- He admitted stealing 10,000 pounds' worth of computer systems. (Oxford)
- We had only three days' worth of food left. (Longman)
Today, however, I've seen ones without apostrophe+s like these;
- a chance to win £2000 worth of computing equipment (Longman)
- The United States imported about 1.7 billion dollars worth of olive oil. (What I've seen)
Considering this 'worth' is a noun, not a predicative adjective, I suppose adding 's is necessary, so I cannot underetand why those two latter sentences do not use " 's ."
Is there any rule about adding 's before 'worth?'
I've known when using 'worth', one put an apostrophe+s after the amount of money or term like these ones:
- He admitted stealing 10,000 pounds' worth of computer systems. (Oxford)
- We had only three days' worth of food left. (Longman)
Today, however, I've seen ones without apostrophe+s like these;
- a chance to win £2000 worth of computing equipment (Longman)
- The United States imported about 1.7 billion dollars worth of olive oil. (What I've seen)
Considering this 'worth' is a noun, not a predicative adjective, I suppose adding 's is necessary, so I cannot underetand why those two latter sentences do not use " 's ."
Is there any rule about adding 's before 'worth?'
Top answer
Dear Langtraveler Your understanding of the rule is correct. In your example, the writer added "dollars" and so should have written "dollars' ". g.
- Dear Langtraveler Your understanding of the rule is correct.
- In your example, the writer added "dollars" and so should have written "dollars' ".
- g.
- 7bn worth.
- What you saw is a common mistake among native speakers, most of whom (including me) never learnt English grammar at school.
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2 Answers
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Dear Langtraveler
Your understanding of the rule is correct. In your example, the writer added "dollars" and so should have written "dollars' ". See mass noun 1.1 here :
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/worth
However, by convention, there is no apostro
Your understanding of the rule is correct. In your example, the writer added "dollars" and so should have written "dollars' ". See mass noun 1.1 here :
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/worth
However, by convention, there is no apostro
00
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