Apostrophes

Is the apostrophe important?

I'd use the apostrophe, but I can't honestly get worked up about leaving it out. ;-)

I would have chosen Neither, but you didn't provide that option. :wink:

I would say either The crime can be punished by up to ten years in jail or The crime can be punished by up to ten years jail time.

(It could be an AE/BE difference, but I am not sure.)

[Edited for spelling.]

I think it is.

It should be years' . It's just like saying a winter's day. The day is of the winter, the jail is of ten years' duration.

I think that apostrophes ARE important - they show possession. Take a look at this example:

The girl's bags were big.

This refers to all the bags belonging to ONE girl. But if you move the apostrophe like in the second example:

The girls' bags were big.

This refers to the bags belonging to MORE THAN ONE girl. If you don't use apostrophes, you can lose the meaning of a sentence altogether. I know apostrophes aren't the most vital things on the planet, but hey, if you can use them, do!

I've chosen the first one, althogh at first I found it a bit difficult to undesrstand both of them. What Ronbee has written are much understandable-least for me- so I would go for them.

what would really be correct would be "the crime can be punishable by up to ten years time"

the correct one is the first sentence. we can't use apostrophe here

Correct. :-D:up:

years --'s' here is plural S not possessive s so the first sentence is true

As ı could remember ı ve come across a sentence like the one which is apostrophed.
thennn
you native speakers! tell us the exact onee pleaseee

To Panjandrum:

Apostrophes are used for two purposes: to show possession and in contractions.

POSESSION
In the case of the expression "a winter's day" the day belongs to winter. However, in this case, the years don't belong to the jail. Do you understand?

CONTRACTIONS
I cannot swim. OR I can't swim.
They both mean the exact same thing, it's just an abbreviation.
But this case doesn't use contractions.

I would write: The crime can be punished by up to ten years in jail.

None of the other choices (with or without apostrophes) sound correct to my AE ear.

According to Advanced Grammar in Use by Martin Hewings, Unit 53, both of ten years' jail and ten-year jail are correct.:-D.

There's a slight difference in meaning between ten years' jail and ten-year jail, though.

Ex.:

Ten years' jail is a real waste of human life. (or: ten years in jail is...)
He received a ten-year jail sentence.

bianca

A simple way of explaining this is to talk about "one year's jail". If it's one year in jail, why is there an "s" on the end of year? It's not there to signify that it's plural, so it must be there to signify possession. In which case it does have an apostrophe. So, "five years' jail" is correct.

I follow daizee. The second one is right. Look at his explanation.

The crime can be punished by up to ten years' jail.

What about this one? Does it sound correct?:

The crime can be punished by up to ten years of jail.
Thanks

I think the expression "... ten years' time" suggests a more correct meaning. It's the time that punishes, not the ten years. The ten years are simply a qualifying length of that time.

Proof? Try changing it from 10 years to 1 year.

Aha! Can't do it without an apostrophe, can you!

(and that would be ... a year's time, not a years' time, eh!)