It’s about time - Perplexing possessives

Booher's Rules of Business Grammar - Dianna Booher 2009

It’s about time
Perplexing possessives

POSSESSIVES WITH TIME AND AMOUNTS

In cover letters accompanying résumés and biographies in sales proposals, phrases like these run rampant. Can you identify the common mistake in each?

Incorrect:

Have ten years experience in …

Worked at Universal, where I led the sales team to sell $40 million worth of product X …

Was awarded the Most Valuable Team Member for the outstanding third-quarter production of the wing design …

In English, we make certain expressions of time and money possessive. So such phrases need either an apostrophe or the word of to show that “ownership.”

Correct:

Have ten years’ experience in …

Worked at Universal, where I led the sales team to sell $40 million of product X…

Daffy was awarded the Most Valuable Team Member for the outstanding third-quarter’s production of the wing design …

Memory tip

People are possessive of their time, money, and experience. Use apostrophes to express ownership or duration of time in that same sense.