Giving notice

BfloGal · Jul 6, 2008

One of my characters is threatening to quit her job.

Would she give her two week's notice?
Or her two weeks notice?
Or her two-week's notice?
Or her two-weeks' notice?

I quit.

FennelGiraffe · Jul 6, 2008

No apostrophe; it isn't possessive, or a contraction. On the other hand, you do need the hyphen because you are "joining two or more words serving as a single adjective before a noun".

I have a nasty suspicion it actually should be

"two-week notice"

(Similar to "ten-day trip. No "s")

But if you must have the "s" because that's how your char would say it, then

"two-weeks notice".

alleycat · Jul 6, 2008

two weeks' notice

Sandi LeFaucheur · Jul 7, 2008

Two weeks' notice is correct.

BfloGal · Jul 7, 2008

Yes, I think you're right about two weeks' notice. I did a brief Google, and while I found all the options somewhere or other, "two weeks' notice" is used on the more professional sites.

(I knew it had to be right when I looked at my original post and saw it was the only option I left out.)

Thank you!

TemlynWriting · Jul 7, 2008

I've studied this one a bit in the past, and most editors seem to agree that it is "two weeks' notice."

Robert Farley · Jul 8, 2008

Just so we know we're not the only ones who care:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Weeks_Noticec

With no punctuation, like the movie, it's as if two weeks are able to notice something.

When two weeks notice they're not part of the calendar, they move to the Land of Missing Days.

-

TemlynWriting · Jul 8, 2008

Thanks for the link, Robert, but I think there was a slight typo because the link didn't work for me. However, these did:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Weeks_Notice#Punctuation_error
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Weeks_Notice

I like your bit about the two weeks noticing something. Ha ha!

BfloGal · Jul 8, 2008

Thanks again for the help!

ideagirl · Jul 15, 2008

FennelGiraffe said:
No apostrophe; it isn't possessive, or a

It does get an apostrophe. Here's a link--note the first dictionary entry: "one day's notice." http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/notice

I think it is, in an odd and technical way, a possessive. In this usage, "notice" actually means a notice period--i.e., the period or length of time prior to an event that one notifies someone of the upcoming event. So another way of saying how long the notice period was could be this (no one actually says this, but it would be correct): "she gave a notice of two weeks." And given that in English "X of Y" can also be expressed as "Y's X" (the sister of Martin/Martin's sister, the King of England/England's king, etc.), a notice (period) of one or two weeks can also be expressed as one week's notice or two weeks' notice.

That's how I rationalize it, anyway.

benbradley · Jul 15, 2008

I've never had to worry about this, I've always given my too-weak-to-work-here notice orally in person. Perhaps I'm lucky I haven't been shot.

June Casagrande · Jul 16, 2008

It's called a quasi-possessive. It takes an apostrophe.

Also quasi-possessive:
"Ben has eight years' experience" BUT "Ben has eight years of experience."

Giving notice

BfloGal

Lost in a plot hole

FennelGiraffe

It's green they say

alleycat

Still around

Sandi LeFaucheur

BfloGal

Lost in a plot hole

TemlynWriting

The Tony Award-winning

Robert Farley

TemlynWriting

The Tony Award-winning

BfloGal

Lost in a plot hole

ideagirl

benbradley

It's a doggy dog world

June Casagrande