Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
to the doctor's / to the cleaner's...?
English answer:
's for a person's place of work
English term
to the doctor's / to the cleaner's...?
The spoken language always says:
"I went to the doctor's...", I went tot he cleaner's
Is it with an apostrophe (as in to the doctor's surgery)...or something else?
And in a correct written form, do you write it so or do you simply write "I went to the doctor".
Thank you for clarifying!
4 +11 | 's for a person's place of work | Sheila Wilson |
4 +1 | it is usual to omit the apostrophe in the written form | AllegroTrans |
5 -1 | Chez le docteur, chez le tinturier | Pierre POUSSIN |
Comment | Rachel Fell |
Oct 30, 2014 11:07: writeaway changed "Language pair" from "French to English" to "English to French"
Oct 30, 2014 11:08: writeaway changed "Language pair" from "English to French" to "English"
Oct 30, 2014 13:20: acetran changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Nov 4, 2014 18:32: Sheila Wilson Created KOG entry
Non-PRO (3): Noni Gilbert Riley, Phoenix III, acetran
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Responses
's for a person's place of work
In the case of the doctor and dentist (and perhaps a few others) there can be an exception. You can go to the surgery for other reasons: ante-natal or post-natal care, to see a nurse or a dental hygienist, to collect a prescription... Or you can go there to be seen by the doctor/dentist personally. In the latter case, you do sometimes say that you go to the doctor/dentist (no apostrophe s). The implication in this case is that you're going TO SEE the doctor/dentist.
As so often in English, it's all about what we DON'T say or write :).
agree |
Philippa Smith
: Good explanation. And I'd say best avoid the no apostrophe, particularly in written English.
11 mins
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Thanks Philippa and I agree with you
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agree |
Victoria Britten
: As Philippa says. You might sometimes see it without the apostrophe, but you'll never be wrong if you leave it in.
11 mins
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Thank Victoria
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agree |
John ANTHONY
39 mins
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Thanks
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agree |
Maria Fokin
48 mins
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Thanks
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agree |
Annie Rigler
52 mins
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Thanks
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agree |
Pierre POUSSIN
2 hrs
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Thanks
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agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
3 hrs
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Thanks
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agree |
dandamesh
10 hrs
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Thanks
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agree |
Yolanda Broad
2 days 15 hrs
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Thanks
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agree |
Rachel Fell
: hadn't read through you answer when I added my note below
5 days
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Thanks, Rachel :)
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agree |
writeaway
: I've never spoken an apostrophe in my entire life. My bad?
7 days
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Chez le docteur, chez le tinturier
Keep the "'s" in written texts
Hi, thank you for your input though if you read my post I am not asking for a translation into French - this is more more of a grammatical question in the English language. |
neutral |
writeaway
: I changed this to English monolingual. I don't see a word of French in the question....
4 mins
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Neither do I!...;-)But see how extraordinarily good some are...
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disagree |
Isabelle Cluzel
: non seulement vous répondez à côté car il ne s'agit pas de traduction, mais en plus avec une faute d'orthographe
17 mins
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I'm so glad that someone is so good!...Shame on me who learns so much from your...excellency! ;-)
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it is usual to omit the apostrophe in the written form
agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
: yes agree, not "always" in spoken form but more common probably.
3 hrs
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thanks
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neutral |
Rachel Fell
: not in my English ;-) i.e. I don't omit the apostrophe (but how do you have an apostrophe in speech anyway?)
3 days 15 hrs
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I am puzzled...// well you do in reported speech; glad to hear you support the Apostrophe Society, I am a life member...
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neutral |
writeaway
: Just how does one pronounce the apostrophe in spoken English?
7 days
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Discussion
That is the first place I saw that kind of incorrect use of apostrophes referred to as a ´greengrocer´s apostrophe´. Just visit any market in the UK where fresh fruit and vegetables are sold...
For the avoidance of all possible doubt on this subject, I am not advocating scrapping the apostrophe...
There are at least two commenters that say "keep the apostrophe at least in written form", that's where my stupor stems from. Where else?! This is a good involuntary pun! BTW, I am FOR keeping the apostrophe 100%!
I went to the greengrocers sounds like a whole trade union to me.
I went to the greengrocer´s
-- would mean the little shop on the corner, probably run by a single family even in these days.
( with cauliflower´s and carrot´s don´t ask me what and all the rest, I suppose...)
Sorry, I´ve had a long week and it´s not over yet, but we should not get so terrified of the so-called greengrocer´s apostrophe that we drop the correct ones too.
If a dry cleaning shop is meant, "I went to the cleaner's" is perhaps suitable in written form for both reported speech and a more formal register. "I went to the cleaners" (no apostrophe) is, however, more common and acceptable in written form. "I went to the cleaner" would probably be understood as a visit to the person who cleans your home/block of flats. "I took him to the cleaners" in the figurative sense means I won a resounding victory over him.