GRAMMER POLICE - Can you please advise which is the correct wording?

[Longingforthesummer]

A. Look what nurses say about our...
B. Look what nurses' say about our...

plural by the way

My spelling is terrible, and I'm not sure on other punctuation, but for some reason the apostrophe rules have stuck with me:

Something doesn't need an apostrophe because it's plural.

You're talking about possession in your case:
"Look what nurses say about our..."

I suppose the nurses might own what they say, but, say I think in this case would be a verb, and for them to own it it would have to be an noun. But the way (in my head) I sort it is can you turn it round to be. X belonging to (or of) the X.
So The dog's bowl=The bowl belonging to the dog.
The dogs' bowl=The bowl belonging to the dogs (ie multiple dogs)

Could you turn around "nurses say"?
"The say belonging to the nurses"? I don't think so.

So you don't need an apostrophe.

You could have "nurse's opinion" (one nurse)
or "nurses' opinion" (lots of nurses)

And then the other apostrophe rule is contractions. So where there are missing letters.
So if you can lengthen it then there's an apostrophe:
you're=you are: they're = they are: didn't = did not: would've = would have: I'm = I am etc.

So "you're a star" = "you are a star" - again I say this in my head to check.

The one (someone will probably say there's another!) exception to the rules is:
its/it's
You use "its" for possession and "it's" for contraction.

It's the dog = it is the dog
Its bowl= the bowl belongs to it.

Now if someone could explain where commas and semi-colons go please!

The second version cannot possibly be correct as there is either a word missing after nurses' or a totally superfluous apostrophe.

Words do not require an apostrophe, either before or after the 's', just because they are plural. That's nonsense.

A is correct..

You would only need an apostrophe for possession.

"I borrowed the nurse's pen" . (a pen that belonged to one nurse)

"I ate the nurses' biscuits" (biscuits that belonged to all the nurses)

It doesn't need to be all the nurses. Just more than one of them.

What if the nurses have been canvased to have their say?
‘Look what nurses’ say on pay and conditions tells about the state of the NHS’
Would that be incorrect?

No apostrophe required because the ‘s’ is for a plural not for a possessor. You can tell because the following word is a verb not a noun.

That’s completely wrong. Nurses in that context is a simple plural. If it said nurses’ opinions were sought that would be correct as that’s plural possessive.

No-you don’t need an apostrophe. You would need an apostrophe to show possession, ie when something belongs to the nurses….

The nurse’s shoes were too tight (the shoes belonging to a nurse).

The nurses’ pay had been eroded over many years (pay belonging to all nurses).

In your example, it would be, ‘look at what nurses say about x’

I’m still adding the AT as I think the OP’s sentence needs it!!

@JackyinaTracky 's example about "nurses' say" is perfectly correct. She's transformed the verb into a noun and therefore it can be possessed.

I just can't

Yes - if we change the word 'say' for 'opinions' then it reads a little better!:

Look what the nurses' opinions on pay and conditions say about the state of the NHS.

I think @Shinyandnew1 has just mis-read it.

The word "nurse" has gone all weird for me now after reading this thread 😅

GRAMMAR!!

Some of the nurses had their say, because they didn't agree with the other nurses' say on the matter. Then one of the latter group of nurses stole a nurse's personal biscuits from the staff room in retaliation, and there was much tutting and frowning.

A ...

Are you sure about that?!

The apostrophe is used to denote ownership. It comes before the S for a single nurse, and after the S for more than one nurse.

"The nurses' umbrellas" means the umbrellas of the nurses.

"The nurse's umbrellas" means the umbrellas of the nurse.

An apostrophe is never used to form a plural - the nurses/ the camels/ the shops.

"Today's specials" is correct.

"Todays specials" is incorrect.

"Today's special's" is incorrect.

"Todays special's" is incorrect.

An apostrophe is used for contractions-
"I can't" means "I cannot". Two letters of "cannot" are represented by the apostrophe.

Don't you just love these threads where the 24th poster says exactly the same thing as the 1st as though they're inventing the wheel?

RTFT