Grammar (or rather punctuation) curmudgeons, help please!

[spacedonkey]

"Read some good American literature or journalism: their punctuation is as good as any British writer's!"

Should it be "writers'"?

ahhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmm

if it meant as good as any britsih writer's punctuation then keep the apostrohphe.....

but i have had the most bizarre day so my apostrophe radar mat be defunk :)

popsy is right.

yes, that's the meaning

not very well put is it, but I'm being picked up by wannabe pedants and I think I'm right :-S

otoh I am prepared to put my hands up if I'm wrong!

Any here refers to a writer in the singular, therefore writer's is okay, as far as I can see. Not a v. elegant formulation though, as potentially ambiguous.

Alternative paraphrased version: "their punctuation is as good as that of any british writer".

if you mean as good as any SINGLE british writer then yes

but if the writers is plural then the apostrophe woukld be at the end

yes

but it looks ad due to the phrasing withthe apostrophe-d word at the end of the sentence

like frog's alternative phrasing :)

yes, i agree with frog
just put writer

Yep frogs, that's exactly how it should have been worded. I have now laid the wannabe pedant to waste, thanks to you!