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Dogs' play or dogs play?

In: Apostrophes and Ellipses [Edit categories]

Answer:

Both are right depending on the context.

When talking about "play" as a verb, a sentence will be in the form "The dogs play in the back yard" It refers to more than one dog playing. Note that there is no apostrophe in dogs.

When talking about "play" as an activity it is a noun. A sentence using the noun might be "The dogs' play went on until the end of the day". The sentence refers to the activity and "dogs' " is used as a possessive form of dogs to indicate that the activity belongs to the dogs.

Also, for one dog, the sentence will read "The dog's play went on until the end of the day." Note that the apostrophe is immediately after dog, and this shows that it is the play of just one dog.

First answer by ID1658191738. Last edit by GreenlightAV. Contributor trust: 393 [recommend contributor ]. Question popularity: 2 [recommend question].

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Relevant answers:

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