I am confused - can anyone enlighten please?  If it makes a difference this is a question from the UK.
Is the apostrophe OK or not?

wiki.answers.com/Q/Which_is_correct_English_An_hours_sleep_or_an_hour's_sleep
A. An hours sleep

But does the fact that hike is a noun and can be 'possessed' mean that the apostrophe should be used?


 

Gavin

IMHO, the author's analysis at wiki.answers.com is spurious: possession is not a problem in this sense...I need the sleep of an hour (i.e., an hour's sleep).

In a similar sense, we often say:

Quote:

I need to get a good night's sleep.

It is truly the sleep of a good night; it is correctly a possessive case.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
"Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty."

I too disagree with the answer provided at wiki.answers.

Hours is the plural of hour, not the possessive of hour.

When it comes to time and measurement, the "'s" should be used to show possession.  For plural possessives, use just the apostrophe.

One hour's sleep.
Two hours' sleep.

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Sounds good to me - thanks.  This query came from us noticing some errors in the marking of a test paper that my son did a few months back.  We got a bit pedantic as we found quite a few errors in both directions.    Overall the original score was fair but we struggled to evaluate this one in the light of answers such as that on Wiki.

Thanks again,

Gavin

Don't always believe wikianswers ...

Wikipaedia's article on the genitive case (of which this is an example) is more comprehensive and, more importantly, accurate.

Given that "hours" is a plural and "an" is singular, "An hours" would be grammatically incorrect.  

I don't think so, Strongm.  We have established that the correct form is "an hour's hike" with "hour" being singular and "'s" showing possession.

Gavin

Quote (SantaMufasa):

It is truly the sleep of a good night

If anyone knows about "a good night", it's Santa.

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To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read
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>the correct form is "an hour's hike"

I am aware of the correct form. I was pointing out an article (here, I'll link it for you) that supports that contention.

>with "hour" being singular and "'s" showing possession

Not exactly. It is a genitive - specifically an objective genitive. Genetives cover far more than simple possession, and allow nuance (that most of us can safely ignore most of the time) in relation to possession. Here is a longer, more in depth article about genitives.  

Are we even supposed to discuss someone's genetives in public? <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
"Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty."

If we allow genitive discussion, next we'll be getting into dative and pluperfect too....

Fred Wagner

  

Quote:

Are we even supposed to discuss someone's genetives in public? <grin>

Only if you refrain from masticating  during the intercourse! <grin>
 

Skip,

_{Just traded in my old subtlety...
for a NUANCE!}

Holy smokes ! Look how fast we can get off into the weeds.  

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
"Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty."

We'd ruther!

Skip,

_{Just traded in my old subtlety...
for a NUANCE!}

>genetives


Coo, I type it wrong once and look what happens ...

Apologies Strongm, I think I got muddled (been reading too many of those links) my comment was actually aimed at carp.  Thank you all for keeping it simple in your posts.  

I am giving Strongm a star 'cos I am sure the links were valuable.  Trouble is each time I read a link I find I have to follow two or more other links so I am going to be selective, go with the majority and focus on this bit:

Quote (Strongm):

most of us can safely ignore

Regards,

Gavin