17 days post-parturition

09:30 Jun 12, 2019 

Which version of MS Word/spellcheck are you using? Mine corrects in the opposite direction - where it would be correct to put the apostrophe (as Charles Davis said, where there is a noun after the amount of time), it tells me that this is incorrect.

I change the advanced settings in my spellchecker to turn off most grammar features like this because it's actually not always accurate and makes me second-guess myself.

22:24 Jun 11, 2019 

@Neil

1) Which version of Word do you have? I just typed in your sentence (added "the" at the beginning) and there's absolutely no issue.

2) I get the feeling that the beginning of your sentence is what made Word trip up. Happens sometimes, depending on how complicated it is (haha).

3) Here's a lengthy post about Word's spellchecker options (plus examples). You can change quite a bit--if you have the time, that is: https://support.office.com/en-ie/article/select-grammar-and-...

@Charles
Wish someone had posted an explanation like yours--"you are using it as a plural and not a possessive" is not...very illuminating.

Never mind that there are plural possessive nouns (whether that's correct in this context isn't the point).

Best wishes

17:17 Jun 11, 2019 

A few years ago I used to have doubts about when to use an apostrophe with days and someone told me that if we add an 's' when referring to one day, then an apostrophe is needed: one year's experience; 10 years' experience; in a day's time; in two weeks' time.

15:07 Jun 11, 2019 

Word flags "days" in even simpler sentences. The one I posted just happens to be from what I'm working on today. It's not the end of the world, just rather annoying, and I wish I could edit the spellchecker so it stopped doing it.

14:34 Jun 11, 2019 

I'm confused: are you saying the apostrophe in 1990's is wrong in the UK but accepted in the US, or are you talking about the apostrophe in "17 days' post-parturition" in Neil's sentence? I don't see how the second can be right, and they're two different issues.

13:08 Jun 11, 2019 

I'm from the UK, where this apostrophe is wrong. But it's usual here in the US, and the New York Times does it.
In the US, families mark their mailboxes "the Smith's" or "the Brown's". They always use this punctuation.
The other thing I keep seeing is "off of", as in "we got off of the boat". I was taught never to say it, but it's perfectly OK here.

11:41 Jun 11, 2019 

"Post-parturition" is adverbial. This means "at 17 days after parturition". An apostrophe would only be required if "post-parturition" were a noun. Word presumably doesn't know "post-parturition" and has assumed that because parturition is a noun post-parturition must be a noun too. The spellchecker is useful for catching typos but Word is rubbish at syntax and I nearly always ignore its advice.

10:22 Jun 11, 2019 

Apostrophes in Time Expressions (Temporal Expressions)
Apostrophes are used in time expressions (e.g., three years' experience, two days' pay, one day's time). These are also known as temporal expressions.

In a temporal expression, the apostrophe is positioned before the s for single units of time and after for multiple units of time. For example:
I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun. (Thomas A. Edison)
(As this is one day, the apostrophe goes before the s.)
Alan was given two days' notice.
(As this is two days, the apostrophe goes after the s.)
That is the equivalent of one year's pay.
(As this is one year, the apostrophe goes before the s.)
My car came with three year's free insurance.
(As this is three years, the apostrophe should go after the s.)