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Subject:Re: Common Errors in English From:"Michael West" <mbwest -at- bigpond -dot- com> To:techwr-l Date:Fri, 27 Feb 2004 11:24:31 +1100
lyndsey -dot- amott -at- docsymmetry -dot- com wrote:
> John Posada writes:
>
>>
>> "I have over 9 year's experience."
>> "I have over 9 years of experience."
>>
>> I say no possessive in either. He says yes to the first one.
>
> I recently asked a similar question to an editor friend. His reply
> was that both of the following are correct:
> I have over 9 year's experience
> I have over 9 years experience
Your editor friend must have gone off half-cocked,
as I did when I reponded to the question. It has to
be "nine years' experience", not "nine year's experience".
Like me, he was paying attention to the "possessive"
part of the question and overlooking the singular/plural
part.
