Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Saved Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Flip

Pedants' corner

The children enjoyed their lolly's

20 replies

Borris · 19/12/2021 09:38

Is this correct?

Was on my dds school newsletter.

Wasn't sure if it should be The children enjoyed their lollies'

But grammar isn't my strong point!

OP posts:

Thanks

Report

80sMum · 19/12/2021 09:39

It should definitely be "lollies".

Thanks

Report

Jng1 · 19/12/2021 09:40

No apostrophe required:

The children enjoyed their lollies

Thanks

Report

LemonViolet · 19/12/2021 09:42

Was there another word?

Their lolly’s flavour? (They all shared one lolly in this scenario….)

If that’s the entire sentence, then “the children enjoyed their lollies” is correct, no apostrophe needed at all. It’s just a standard plural.

Perhaps it was an exercise for the children to correct?!?

Thanks

Report

Snoopsnoggysnog · 19/12/2021 09:44

Ah this sort of thing really annoys me in school communications
Yes it absolutely should be lollies.

Thanks

Report

LawnFever · 19/12/2021 09:45

It should be ‘lollies’ and there’s no need for an apostrophe even if it wasn’t.

Thanks

Report

LouLou198 · 19/12/2021 10:05

Yes it's lollies. I would be more concerned what type of lollies. Ice lollies or the boiled sweet type ones on a stick? I can't even watch children eating the hard boiled ones, especially when they start running about, such a choking hazard. Any that come into our house go straight in the bin.

Thanks

Report

Borris · 19/12/2021 12:04

Thank you. I knew it didn't look right but couldn't work out the correct version.

It was on the school newsletter so not something for the children to correct.

They were ice lollies eaten on the school Christmas cinema trip.

OP posts:

Thanks

Report

upinaballoon · 19/12/2021 14:12

Dare you write back to the school, pointing it out, or will you remain silent about it?

Thanks

Report

Borris · 19/12/2021 17:32

Oh no. I won't say anything. It was more just niggling me as I recognised it was wrong but wasn't certain of the correct grammar!

OP posts:

Thanks

Report

Wigeon · 19/12/2021 17:48

“Lolly/lollies” is a spelling rule (not grammar). Words ending in “y” with a preceding consonant form a plural with “ies”. So baby -> babies. Words ending a in “y” with a preceding vowel form a plural with an “s”. So boy -> boys. Lolly has a consonant before the y, so it’s lollies.

Adding in an apostrophe is a punctuation error. An apostrophe signals a missing letter (“don’t”) or possession (“mum’s pencil”).

Our primary school newsletter has typos, spelling and grammatical mistakes in pretty much every week. This week it was “signing carols in the playground at 3.15am”. And no, they didn’t mean that the carols would be signed in the middle of the night.

Thanks

Report

Bortles · 16/01/2022 12:21

It's rude to directly correct them, but you could demonstrate the right version with a comment (if it's online), 'so kind to give them all lollies!'

Thanks

Report

BigButtons · 15/03/2022 13:26

I work in a school and am shocked by the amount of grammatical mistakes made by people supposed to be teaching children how to do it correctly.
How can you not know the difference between a plural and a possession/ contraction? It’s really not hard. Is it more than one object or not? That’s all you have to ask yourself.
The head uses the word myself instead of me. As in “speak to myself if you are concerned,” why? Just why?

Thanks

Report

BigButtons · 15/03/2022 13:27

Should say number of -I have covid and my brain is fried along with my body.

Thanks

Report

Fizbosshoes · 15/03/2022 13:35

“Lolly/lollies” is a spelling rule (not grammar). Words ending in “y” with a preceding consonant form a plural with “ies”. So baby -> babies. Words ending a in “y” with a preceding vowel form a plural with an “s”. So boy -> boys. Lolly has a consonant before the y, so it’s lollies.

Thank you @Wigeon. I knew lollys was wrong (with and without apostrophe) but this is a helpful way to remember.(if y is preceded by a vowel) I always get confused with monkeys, donkeys and journeys!! I'm ok with most other spellings and find unnecessary apostrophes are annoying!

Thanks

Report

SunshineLollipopsAndRainbows · 15/03/2022 13:43

Absolutely agree with you BigButtons

Thanks

Report

SunshineLollipopsAndRainbows · 15/03/2022 13:45

Unnecessary apostrophes drive me crackers eg “ pizza’s”, “toilet’s” etc

Thanks

Report

villainousbroodmare · 15/03/2022 13:52

A horrifying number of supposedly educated people seem to believe that the plural of "mum" is "mum's".

Thanks

Report

BigButtons · 15/03/2022 14:06

I have heard a lot of people defend this. They say the people co cents might have dyslexia. This has nothing to do with dyslexia. Is it more than one object? Dyslexics know the difference between one thing and more than one thing. I call it sheer laziness. At a school it is not acceptable.

Thanks

Report

BigButtons · 15/03/2022 14:08

Excuse typos- big lol there.

Thanks

Report

Iamblossom · 15/03/2022 16:33

@SunshineLollipopsAndRainbows

Unnecessary apostrophes drive me crackers eg “ pizza’s”, “toilet’s” etc

oh god me too.

HGV's......ARGHHHHH

Thanks

Report

Flip

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.