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user guide vs. user's guide



 
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ESL Forums | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
Collocating the adjective "complicate". | isn't and aren't
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user guide vs. user's guide Thu Jun 05, 2008 18:59 pm  user guide vs. user's guide
 

Hi, is there a difference between "a user's guide to the program" and "a user guide to the program"?

Thanks,
Torsten
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user guide vs. user's guide Thu Jun 05, 2008 19:52 pm  user guide vs. user's guide
 

There's no difference, and neither one is wrong.
Jamie (K)
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user guide vs. user's guide Thu Jun 05, 2008 22:24 pm  user guide vs. user's guide
 

I agree.

Interesting though:

1,960,000 English pages for "user's guide"
662,000 English pages for "user guide"

"User guide" sounds more formal to me. Sounds more "professional", technical.
Molly
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user guide vs. user's guide Fri Jun 06, 2008 1:28 am  user guide vs. user's guide
 

Why not "users' guide"? Smile
Haihao
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user guide vs. user's guide Fri Jun 06, 2008 1:48 am  user guide vs. user's guide
 

Molly wrote:
I agree.

Interesting though:

1,960,000 English pages for "user's guide"
662,000 English pages for "user guide"

"User guide" sounds more formal to me. Sounds more "professional", technical.

"User guide" sounds clumsier to me, and less formal. When I see a user's guide, I expect it to be well-written. When I see a user guide, I expect to see typos and clunky syntax.
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4721
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA

user guide vs. user's guide Fri Jun 06, 2008 1:49 am  user guide vs. user's guide
 

Haihao wrote:
Why not "users' guide"? Smile

Because generally only one user has the guide in his hand at one time.

However, there would be nothing grammatically wrong about users' guide, and I don't doubt that it's used in some situations.
Jamie (K)
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Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4721
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA

user guide vs. user's guide Fri Jun 06, 2008 2:08 am  user guide vs. user's guide
 

Jamie (K) wrote:
Because generally only one user has the guide in his hand at one time.

This is a crystalclear explanation to me.
Haihao
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 26 Oct 2006
Posts: 1389
Location: Japan

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Collocating the adjective "complicate". | isn't and aren't
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