Which is correct, please. I will see the patient back in 1 months time; 1 month's time; 1 months' time?

Question

jagatuba · Answer

1 month is singular, and in this case we want 1 month to be in possessive form since time is being possessed by 1 month. A similar example would be:

The recipe called for 1 cup's worth of flour.

anonymous · Answer

Time can be possessive of itself? So the correct form would be 1 months' time? I'm not sure I really understand which is correct and why. Sorry.

jagatuba · Answer

Possessive form is going to be either 's or s', depend on if the noun is singular or plural. Example:

The girl's comb - singular
The girls' club - plural

One month (or 1 month) is singular and it is possessive of time. So it would be:

1 month's time

If it were more than one month, it would be the other way, since anything else would be plural, i.e. 2 months. SO:

2 months' time

anonymous · Answer

I see, that does make sense, even though I did not know time could be possessive of itself. Thank you.

anonymous · Answer

Time is not possessive -- what governs it is. (In terms simply of grammar.)

The phrase "one month's time" is like shorthand for "a time period of one month." The amount of time is defined by how many months are involved.

Generally you can rewrite a possessive phrase using this "of" phrase. Even though sometimes the resulting phrase isn't anything you would really say (it might sound funny), the sense of the relationship is there.

the comb of the girl = the girl's comb
the picture of the girl = the girl's picture
the website of Open Study = Open Study's website

anonymous · Answer

Actually, it is one months time.

anonymous · Answer

Er, no, it is not. The phrase takes an apostrophe.

anonymous · Answer

Er  no it doesnt because with the ' it would be month's which means that "month" owns time. Months' means "multiple months" own time. Months means "multiple months".

jagatuba · Answer

No you use an apostrophe because as Redwood Girl pointed out, what what is really being said here is "in the time of one month". Singular possessive is used. End of discussion, so stop trolling.