To use or not to use the apostrophe?

Obviously it would be #2, great post!

If the course is for Trainers on how to train Bankspersons - #2

If it is a course on running shoes made specifically for Bankspersons...#1

If it is a course by a specific pair of running shoes owned by a Banksperson...#3

1. Banksperson Trainer's Course - If you're aiming at one trainer
2. Banksperson Trainers' Course - If you're aiming at more than one trainers

Curious,

Why not just use the word banksperson training course.

I'd definitely opt for #2.
#1 is missing the possessive element that the apostrophe conveys.
You could use #3 if you're talking about multiple trainers but I think #1 is a better bet in this respect.

1. Banksperson Trainers Course
2. Banksperson Trainer's Course
3. Banksperson Trainers' Course
4. Other

Let's define each.
1) Means a course being described as one that teaches people how to train.
2) Means a course belonging to a trainer
3) Means a course belonging to a group of trainers

Select the one whose meaning is what you actually mean.

Oh man another Grammer Thread!!

This is like crack to me... woooh!! Let's GO!! (face used for intensity, not fury )

• Banksperson Trainers Course

Plural - Doesn't have any possessive at all... can't actually think of a context where this sentence makes sense Unless 'course' becomes an adjective...

e.g. Banksperson Trainers Course Through The Rivers Like Eels

• Banksperson Trainer's Course - THIS IS THE ONE YOU WANT

Singular, Possessive - The Course belongs to, or is intended for use by, one single Banksperson at a time. They don't need to be in a group to achieve what the course offers.

• Banksperson Trainers' Course
  

Plural, Possessive - This would be like saying 'Banksperson Trainers's Course'

e.g. It is the other banks' responsibility (the responsibility of a group of other banks)

As opposed to:

It is the other bank's responsibility (the responsibility of one other bank)



My rule when writing copy is to be as lax about it as I can be (I'm a essentially a grammar nazi)... to make it as converstional as I can... so lot's of:

• But's after full stops: great. But you must consider...
• And's after full stops: wonderful. And you get this too...
• Contractions: That's / It's / This'll / Gotta...
• Removal of 'that': You buy this so (that) you can get laid.

But the second it changes the meaning of the sentence, I feel you gotta get it right... and it does tend to be apostrophes that make all the difference.

I can't help but feel if you get something as simple as apostrophes wrong, then the sales letter lacks credibility... but I may very well be wrong.

More experienced folk could tell you better than I.

I think you should for #2

I would like to share a related joke.
A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires shots in the air. He then walks towards the exit.
The waiter is baffled and asks the panda "why ?". The panda produces a wildlife manual and asks the waiter to read the desription of himself, the panda.
Sure enough, there is an explanation.
"Panda: Large black-and-white bear-like animal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."
The waiter understands.
To those of you who have not got it, the single comma, inserted unnecessarily between eats and shoots, changes the whole sentence on the panda's eating habits. It should have been "Eats shoots and leaves.", "shoots", of course, referring to bamboo shoots. No wonder, he protested.

Bottom line, don't make grammatical mistakes, it looks really bad.

Alright you know... I think apostrophe has been covered... so here's a new question...

(figured I'd go with this rather than a new thread...)

Semi-Colons ( ; ).... does anybody use these in copy?