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  1. dillseed

    dillseed Active Member

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    Punctuation Possessive / Descriptive of Decades

    Discussion in 'Word Mechanics' started by dillseed, May 15, 2014.

    Without rewording the following sentences, do you agree with my punctuation and logic? I know that I could write The greatest movie of the 1970s was The Godfather. But I wanted to know whether the following sentences were correct in terms of technical punctuation.

    I believe that, technically, they're all punctuated correctly—I'm just looking for confirmation from the experts on this forum.

    • The 1970s' greatest movie was The Godfather.

    (Do you agree that the single quote mark should be placed after 1970s because a superlative precedes the noun movie?)

    • The greatest 1970s movie was The Godfather.
    (No single quote mark here, because 1970s is functioning more as a descriptive than a possessive correct?)

    • The '70s' greatest movie was The Godfather.
    (Here we technically need two single quote marks—one to indicate the omission of 19 before the word 70s, and the other after 70s to signify the possessive of movie before the superlative greatest, agreed?)

    And, alternatively,

    • The seventies’ greatest movie was The Godfather. (Punctuated correctly when we spell out seventies?)

    The greatest seventies movie was The Godfather. (Look good?)

    • The greatest '70s movie was The Godfather.
    (Punctuated correctly? No single quote mark after '70s as exampled above. The abbreviated decade is more of a descriptive than a possessive, correct?)

    Thank you. :)

    Mike
     
    Last edited: May 15, 2014
  2. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    all correct... [except for what you're mis-calling the 'apostrophes'!;)]
     
  3. dillseed

    dillseed Active Member

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    Thank you, maia.
     

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