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Mocking Poor Grammar
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A noun that is formed from a verb and which describes an action. In English it ends in -ing, eg 'the baking of bread' and 'Smoking damages your health'.

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1. In the words of my esteemed wife, “Singles’ Night, because it’s both possessive and plural. I don’t see why this is hard!”

   Comment by Andrew — 1st May, 2008 @ 10:32 am

2. I thought that either singles or singles’ would be valid, depending on whether the intended meaning is that it’s possessive (belonging to single people), or whether singles is just a label for the event.

   Comment by ade — 1st May, 2008 @ 11:20 am

3. First, more than one single. Second, the day belongs to the single people. So it’s National Singles’ Day. They got it right… just.

   Comment by Mantolwen — 1st May, 2008 @ 11:56 am

4. There were some excellent moments last night: a “150%”, several “me personallys”, typeface-chat and a wrongful “literally”.In fact, it was so good I sent a text to my friend Gez, 26, about it. He then ignored the text and stole the idea for a blog entry instead.

   Comment by Dan — 1st May, 2008 @ 3:21 pm

5. Get you! I credited you in a tweet here.

   Comment by Gez — 1st May, 2008 @ 3:50 pm

6. I agree with the previous comments in that it depends on whether or not they intended the day to belong to single people or not.Looking at this rather excellent resource for a president I find several.International Firefighters’ DayVolunteers’ WeekNational Parks’ WeekWorld Teachers’ DayAnd these. Note that while the apostrophe is before the ‘s’ the words are in plural form and thus they are plural possessive.International Women’s DayChildren’s DayOrangemen’s DayThus, It should be Singles’ – plural possessive.

   Comment by binarytales — 1st May, 2008 @ 3:56 pm

7. I forgot to post the link:http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/specialdays.htm

   Comment by binarytales — 1st May, 2008 @ 3:57 pm

8. I agree with the plural possessive comments above: Singles’ Day.motownmutt

   Comment by motownmutt — 1st May, 2008 @ 4:14 pm

9. Binary Tales,With much affection, did you mean you were looking for a precedent? If you were looking for a president, I suppose that’s as good a place as any.

   Comment by Gez — 1st May, 2008 @ 4:24 pm

10. If it wasn’t for the fact that I don’t have to show my face in the first place and wouldn’t be able to show my face, I pick others up on this all the time. Yes that is what I meant, I was up late last night and despite it being 4 in the afternoon have just recently got up. It was a Freudian slip maybe. That’s my excuse.

    Comment by binarytales — 1st May, 2008 @ 4:35 pm

11. I agree with Andrew…why is this difficult? It doesn’t seem like a question that merits debate on national television. I haven’t consulted my style guides, but my knee-jerk reaction is “singles’” because it’s plural and possessive. I hope we’re right or I’m going to feel pretty dumb.To me, apostrophes usually seem like common sense (except maybe the first time you think about its vs. it’s). So, why do so many people screw them up?

    Comment by Hillary Dickman — 2nd May, 2008 @ 8:10 pm

12. Just to add to the debate, it’s worth noting that the Oxford English Dictionary gives ‘Mother’s Day’ – singular, possessive. In other words, it’s ‘the day of the mother’. Following that model, it really should be ‘Single’s Day’ – ‘the day of the single [person]‘. I don’t particularly agree with this though.I ran a poll on my own blog and National Singles Day was the most popular option, followed by National Singles’ Day. National Single’s Day received just the one vote, and National Single Day received none at all.

    Comment by JD — 7th May, 2008 @ 5:23 pm

13. I suppose National “Oh dear, I’m all alone day” Day wouldn’t work? Oh well.

    Comment by Daddy Papersurfer — 8th May, 2008 @ 7:22 pm

14. [...] Single’s, Singles’ or Singles? – GrammarBlogMay 1, 2008 … Comment by Hillary Dickman — 2nd May, 2008 @ 8:10 pm. Just to add to the debate, it’s worth noting that the Oxford English Dictionary gives … [...]

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