The greetings, on the other hand, are friendly regards or wishes. Or you may avoid the issue and wish people happy holidays. The correct version is seasons greetings because they are the greetings offor the seasonthe apostrophe shows possession. Without the apostrophe, or with it after the s, it indicates multiple seasons. See more ideas about apostrophe s, book club books and books.
Seasons greetings or seasons greetings and confusing holiday. Seasons greetings and happy holidays poems for free by nicholas gordon seasons greeting poems, happy holiday poetry, free for any personal or noncommercial purpose. The apostrophe is required not because a season is a person with possessions, but because the phrase should be understood as the greetings of the season. But then neither does the plural in screenwriters guild. Seasons greetings and happy holidays poems for free. It is technically a possessive, seasons greetings greetings of the christmas season, but on posters, banners, and cards the apostrophe is often omitted. Theres one time of year where handwritten messages abound, and thats the christmas season.
Dec 17, 2018 healthy living, clean eating, motivational quotes, fitness and nutrition ideas, empowerment for women, self care for women, books, fiction, nonfiction, reading lists, reading for inspiration. The apostrophe tells us that the greetings are regarding the current season and all the holidays in it. The christmas season, also called the holiday season often simply called the holidays, or the festive season, is an annually recurring period recognized in many western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late november to early january. For hanukkah poems, click on hanukkah poems for free.
Find holiday wishes, funny holiday greeting messages, and holiday quotes below, including how to say happy holidays in 28 different languages. A simple and timely reminder for our final mind your language column of the year. There are conflicting policies and theories about how to show possession when writing such nouns. For christmas poems, click on christmas poems for free. You are sending the greetings of the season just one season, so its s. When somebody writes seasons greetings,is an apostrophe appropriate in seasons. Seasons greetings or seasons greetings and confusing. In her article titled use s with your seasons greetings published in the oklahoman dec.
The apostrophe also needs special attention when sending your christmas wishes. Best wishes for the holiday season the holidays are a special time of. My argument with some coworkersis that it is not correct to add an apostrophe. The exact origin of seasons greetings is unclear, going perhaps as far back as the 1500s according to some sources, but its been used commonly at least since the mid1800s. But before you mail your cards en masse, double check that youve included an apostrophe. There i was, laying in bed on sunday morning looking up at the red 3. Seasons greetings definition of seasons greetings by. No matter how beautifully designed the greeting is and how long you spent selecting just the right photo, a writing mistake can ruin the sentiment. Dont be fooled by any signs that read seasons greetings.
The wellknown and cherished seasons greetings are often confused with the apostropheless seasons greetings. The marking of the omission of one or more letters as in the contraction of do not to dont the marking of possessive case of nouns as in the eagles feathers, or in one months time. Seasons greetings or seasons greetings or seasons greetings. Dear is a modifier, and you dont use a comma to separate modifiers from the things they modify lazy, cat. The correct spelling is seasons greetings, according to the oxford english dictionary. The expression seasons greetings is an expression of genitive case also known as possessive in which one noun is the possessor of another noun. The expression seasons greetings is an expression of genitive case also known as possessive in. Greeting cards, holiday cards, announcements and more.
The apostrophe bedevils many, but in this case you want to use it because the meaning of the phrase is greetings of the holiday season. The greetings belong to the season, so you need the possessive with the apostrophe and not the plural seasons. Happy new year follows the same rule, so you would not capitalize happy unless it begins the sentence. The internal alarm clock always says, get up, its game day at this time, despite the fact that 5,000 miles away, the game is starting in another four hours. The letter s in the word greetings is part of this word. I would have put in the apostrophe if it had been i who named the organization. That being said, i am not going to stop saying merry christmas. In the case of seasons greetings, adding an apostrophe and the letter s to the word season indicates.
The apostrophe or character is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritical mark, in languages that use the latin alphabet and some other alphabets. You are only referring to one season, the winter xmas holiday season. In other words, greetings belonging to this time of the year. Only use an apostrophe when you want to make a name possessive. Because youre wishing someone greetings of the season, so the season owns the greetings. The speakerwriter is wishing you greetings of the season. If your last name is johnson and you want to send a card from your family, simply add an s. But there is another festivity which uses the term season and that is the season of lent in fact if we look back to the 18th century, we can see that the phrase season of lent blue was more in use than its winter counterpart. Many common nouns end in the letter s lens, cactus, bus, etc. Grammar cop will not cite you for misuse of an apostrophe for writing the possessive form of season in your greetings. Is it seasons greetings or seasons greetings answers. If there were an added apostrophe as in, the bakers or the bakers, it would make the term possessive. Seasons greetings, and please dont forget the apostrophe. Havent christmas cards always said seasons greetings.
Seasons greetings definition is used in writing as a greeting in the time of year when christmas and several other holidays happen near each other. Similar pitfalls constitute the capitalisation of merry christmas and happy holidays. An apostrophe is required in seasons because its showing possession over the greetings. Which is grammatically correct, seasons greetings or. Englishspeaking people usually greet each other in an informal way, so you can use these common conversational greetings for friends, family, as well as people you meet in casual settings. Fox news sends out christmas card that says seasons.
In the phrase seasons greetings, the greetings belong to the season. The first one, because its basically short for greetings of the season. I had to redo the image by adding the apostrophe after the fact. Seasons greetings, seasons greetings or seasons greetings. However, please remember seasons greetings without the apostrophe means greetings for many seasons.
Granted, its not quite as egregious an attack on religious. Nowadays political correctness would have us believe that christmas is prac. Seasons greetings a view of celtics league cup win. A look at oklahoma city decorations discloses the annual yuletide conspiracy against the harmless little is. Seasons greetings jiggle blur arthur morrisbirds as art. Should we just return all those holiday card apostrophes like that awkward secret santa present that joyously. To show possession with a singular noun, add an apostrophe plus the letter s. Instead, somebody is collectively giving the greetings of the holiday season.
And although you may like the person so well that you want to wish them good tidings for numerous seasons to come. I suspect that he would have used a possessive plural form if it had been a guild of fishermen, though, but may have left out the apostrophe through ignorance. Apostrophes mark possession, but the degree can vary, which makes seasons greetings a bit counterintuitive the glad tidings dont belong to the season in the same way that frostys top hat belongs to him. Just when we all thought that donald trumps victory would bring an end to the war. The greetings belong to the season, and thus theyre. Its time again for our a word, please annual tradition. Pity the poor apostrophestheyre going to miss christmas again. The 3 most common writing mistakes on holiday greetings. The expression christmas season pretty much covers all the christian festivities related to the birth of christ. The apostrophe makes the term look possessive, but it isnt truly possessive, just quasipossessive. Adding an apostrophe to seasons greetings is correct, since it makes the phrase possessive.
The apostrophe goes before the s when you want to signify a single owner and after the s when there is more than one owner see the dogs bones example above. The seasons are not givng the greetings unless they are personified. I remember the phrase from christmasesseasons of yore the 1970s, as i eagerly opened each. If youre wishing someone greetings of the season, youre wishing seasons greetings. Should you send seasons greetings or seasons greetings. Seasons greetings and other seasonal pitfalls bridging. Maybe its all the parties and booze during the holiday season, but there are three common writing mistakes that pop up on holiday greetings every year. It is defined as incorporating at least christmas, usually new year, and sometimes various other holidays and festivals. The correct form is the first one, seasons greetings. When somebody writes seasons greetings,is an apostrophe.
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