Grammar question

psd99 · 25 Sep 2019 at 14:53

hi what is the difference between

London’s finest

Vs

Londons finest

What would be the correct term for which scenario? Thanks

cheesyboy · 25 Sep 2019 at 14:59

psd99 said:
London’s finest

The finest of London
or
London is finest

psd99 said:
Londons finest

Difficult to work into a meaning, but it's a plural of London (i.e. more than one London)

dirtychinchilla · 25 Sep 2019 at 14:59

London's finest is possessive, so something belonging to London, i.e. London's finest whisky.

Londons finest literally means nothing to me. It's plural London, which doesn't make any sense.

bremen1874 · 25 Sep 2019 at 14:59

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any situation where 'Londons' would be correct.

MonkeyBasher · 25 Sep 2019 at 15:02

There are not two Londons in the UK there are two Newports.

jsmoke · 25 Sep 2019 at 15:03

I think the apostrophe has a few uses, obviously separating two words such are they're it also gives significance to important names, London('s) being one for example.

bremen1874 · 25 Sep 2019 at 15:05

It doesn't give 'significance', it's there to show possession.

jsmoke · 25 Sep 2019 at 15:09

bremen1874 said:
It doesn't give 'significance', it's there to show possession.

You know what I mean. Grammar Nazi!

bremen1874 · 25 Sep 2019 at 15:15

jsmoke said:
Grammar Nazi!

It's a grammar thread.

psd99 · 25 Sep 2019 at 15:30

still confused......

so the first one means like London's finest gangster...

or London's finest wine

I got that bit but still not sure about 2nd one.

if I was putting this on to a t shirt which term is correct?!

bremen1874 · 25 Sep 2019 at 15:33

'London's' is correct.

'Londons' is meaningless in any normal context. How would you have a plural London?

cheesyboy · 25 Sep 2019 at 15:33

psd99 said:
I got that bit but still not sure about 2nd one.

The 2nd one is, probably, never to be used. I'm struggling to think up any way it could be used.

Dalandius · 25 Sep 2019 at 15:38

There are 11 other places called London . Which means Londons would make sense if you where talking about a group of them but not if you are talking about a specific one.

VincentHanna · 25 Sep 2019 at 15:40

bremen1874 said:
'Londons' is meaningless in any normal context. How would you have a plural London?

"How many Londons are there in the World?"

Dalandius said:
There are 11 other places called London .

bremen1874 · 25 Sep 2019 at 15:43

That's one dull slogan for a t-shirt.

VincentHanna · 25 Sep 2019 at 15:45

bremen1874 said:
That's one dull slogan for a t-shirt.

Depends if there is an image to go with it

psd99 · 25 Sep 2019 at 15:47

Dalandius said:
There are 11 other places called London . Which means Londons would make sense if you where talking about a group of them but not if you are talking about a specific one.

ahh okay understood!

TJM · 25 Sep 2019 at 16:29

Even in that case you should indicate the possessive - either as "Londons' finest" or "Londons's finest" (there isn't a rule on which style to use but the double 's' looks awkward to me). "The finest of the Londons" dodges it.

Pawnless Endgame · 25 Sep 2019 at 16:39

bremen1874 said:
It's a grammar thread.

Teacher knocks on pupil's door.

Teacher: Can I speak to your mum please?
Pupil: She ain't in.
Teacher: Where's your grammar?
Pupil: She ain't in either.

McGraw · 25 Sep 2019 at 17:06

If Londons was a brand name you could use Londons Finest as a product name.

Even then there’s an argument to use Londons’ Finest.

That’s the only thing I can think of where option 2 would make sense.