Ann
Patient satisfaction vs patient's satisfaction
Hi!
Anyone knows the grammar rule behind the omission of apostrophe?
Ex.
1. Improving patient adherence or satisfaction, consumer trust, consumer demand etc.
2. Improving patient's adherence or satisfaction, consumer's trust, consumer's demand etc.

When should I use one or the other? Thank you in advance!
2019年7月16日 14:49
コメント · 2
4
You have two possible options here:

1. Patient satisfaction

This is a compound noun, composed of two nouns positioned one after the other. The second noun is the more general one, while the first - which is always singular and has no apostrophe - is the more specific. 'Customer satisfaction' is a similar compound noun, as is 'patient adherence'.

English is full of compound nouns of this type. Think of wine glass ( a glass specifically for wine) or toothbrush (a brush specifically for teeth).

2. Patients' satisfaction

This is a different construction grammatically. It is not a compound noun. Note that the first noun is plural (because it refers to patients in general) and it is in the genitive case - hence the apostrophe after the 's'. This noun phrase is a condensed form of 'the satisfaction of patients''.

"Improving patient's satisfaction" is not a correct option. If you were to write this, people would presume you were writing in note form and were omitting the word 'the' ( or 'a' or 'your', for example) before the singular noun.

I hope that all makes sense.
2019年7月16日
Thank you Su.Ki for you comment and explanation, that would help me have a basic idea so I can investigate more and find out when to use one or the other. Thank you!
2019年7月16日