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Should the following sentence have an apostrophe after 'Games'? I feel like it should as it's referring to plural 'games'.

More tickets were applied for than at all previous Paralympic Games combined.

Shiro
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    There is no need for an apostrophe, since it's used to indicate possession. – CowperKettle Nov 26 '15 at 12:13
  • The sentence doesn't look very good. Did you write it yourself? What is the source of the sentence? –  Nov 26 '15 at 12:22
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    @Rathony - what was so bad in including the full sentence in the title? I did it because I thought that that would make it easier for users to know right away what the question is about. – CowperKettle Nov 26 '15 at 12:24
  • @CopperKettle Nothing wrong with it. If you click on *questions, the sentence appears. The subject doesn't need to contain it as it is too long. One more thing, the sentence is not good*. –  Nov 26 '15 at 12:26
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    @Rathony - Why do you think it doesn't look good? It would help a new English learner to know why you think it isn't good. It looks fine to me. – stangdon Nov 26 '15 at 17:21
  • @stangdon I don't think *at* should be placed there. *Than* is functioning as a "*quasi-relative pronoun" or preposition* if you will. And there is no reason to put *at* there grammatically. Do you think it is OK? –  Nov 26 '15 at 17:25
  • @stangdon I would really appreciate your answer to my question. Why do you think it looks fine to you? –  Nov 26 '15 at 18:00
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    @Rathony The sentence looks fine to me too. Still I think it should have been "*More tickets were applied for than at all the previous Paralympic Games combined.*" –  Nov 27 '15 at 06:09
  • @Mrstupid Yes, that is another point that I was going to ask him. Do you mean without *at*, it doesn't make sense? –  Nov 27 '15 at 06:11
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    @Rathony It does. or maybe it doesn't, as it looks fine to the native speaker. :) PS - I am not a native speaker. –  Nov 27 '15 at 06:13
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    @Rathony - As originally phrased, it says: "More tickets were applied for" (a passive-voice phrase) "than" (a function word that indicates a comparison) "at all previous..." (what we are comparing the first thing to). You could say that the original sentence elides "...than were applied for at all previous... The sentence requires "at" because the action happened at the games. Without "at", it would mean "the number of tickets applied for was higher than the number of previous games" which means something completely different. – stangdon Nov 27 '15 at 14:12
  • @stangdon I beg to differ. The full sentence would be "More tickets were applied for than *(the tickets of)* all the previous Olympics combined". Nobody would interpret that way as there were not many Paralympic Games were held and the main point of the sentence is about "the number of tickets". In a comparison sentence, it is common to omit repeated words after "than", i.e. More Olympic Games were held in London than New York. You don't need to use *at or in* before New York even though at/in modifies a specific place. At in the above sentence is meaningless and not required. –  Nov 27 '15 at 14:23

1 Answers1

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Apostrophes are to be used only for possession and not plural So, answering your question, no.

Although, there are exceptions, check out this for more information on apostrophe usage!

Caroffrey
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