Response to response from Sydney Writers' Centre 15/10/10

I love this debate!

If Mignon is correct with:
Here's an even trickier one: farmers market. The market is used by the farmers, populated by the farmers, but generally not owned by the farmers. So it seems reasonable to conclude that you don't use an apostrophe because the word farmers is there to identify the type of market. It's an adjective.
... then why do you use the apostrophe in Sydney Writers’ Centre?

The writers USE the centre, they even contribute to the work... but they don’t OWN it. If this argument is correct, then the apostrophe in Sydney Writers’ Centre is wrong. If it makes any difference, I believe your apostrophe is correct.

I think the debate now moves to the definition of ownership. In my opinion, ownership is to do with owning the purpose (of the room, market, centre, hospital etc) rather than the facility itself. Perhaps in legal terms the farmers don’t own the markets, but without the farmers the markets cannot exist, and therefore they own the concept. The same would apply to the writers’ strike. The writers are doing the striking, and therefore they own it.

As I said in my previous email, in English, where a word is used only as an adjective, we seem to only ever use singular nouns and therefore the risk of putting in an accidental apostrophe does not exist.

As always, there are always never-ending debates in grammar – and it’s healthy to have them. We might need to agree to disagree on this one, but unless style dictates it, I will continue to use the apostrophe.

Have a great day,
Gem.