In the phrase beginners guide to …, where should the apostrophe go?
- Beginner’s Guide to […]
- Beginners’ Guide to […]
In my particular case, this is the title for a presentation so there are multiple beginners that are being addressed.
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Sign up to join this communityIn the phrase beginners guide to …, where should the apostrophe go?
In my particular case, this is the title for a presentation so there are multiple beginners that are being addressed.
If your intention is to address each member of the audience directly, I suggest you prefix the phrase with an appropriate article, as in:
A Beginner's Guide to Shoe Hurling
or
The Beginner's Guide to Shoe Hurling
The use of the apostrophe before s seems more apt in this context.
Although:
Beginners' Guide to Shoe Hurling
is also grammatically correct, but would make your presentation sound impersonal.
You can argue cogently for either position:
Beginner's Guide - this is a guide for one beginner at a time (and is probably the best choice)
Beginners' Guide - this is a guide for all beginners at the same time.
However, normally one person is reading (one copy of) a text at a time, and therefore "Beginner's" is the more normal. It is more likely that you will be perceived as not knowing how to handle apostrophes if you use "Beginners'".
Either is correct and you'd have to choose based on context: "A beginner's guide to peg solitaire" vs "Beginners' guide to flash-mob culture".