What is correct, the guest’s request or the guest request?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “a guest calls asking for a particular type of coffee“
What is correct, the guest’s request or the guest request?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “a guest calls asking for a particular type of coffee“
It is always difficult to answer such questions without a context to place them in. I’ll give it a go:
The first one is more specific, that is, referring to a particular guest: “The guest’s request is out of the question.”
The only situation I can think of for using “the guest request” would be something like “The guest request” that you mentioned should be referred to the management.
‘The guest request’ is incorrect because an apostrophe(‘) will always be added when expressing possession, for eg. Karen’s pen or James’ pen( in this case after ‘s’ because the noun already ends with an ‘s’ hence there’s no need for another ‘s’).
Talking about guest, it depends if they’re two or more guests or just one guest.
If it’s 1 guest you’re talking about, then ‘the guest’s request’ is correct.
If they’re 2 or more guests(here the noun already ending with ‘s’) then the guests’ request will be correct.
…’s always shows possession and contraction.
Guest’s request meaning a request made by a guest is correct. In speech however it becomes a tongue twister. Hence the tendency to say guest request but it might a request for guest
Both are correct and almost interchangeable for many scenarios. But there is a subtle difference in the meaning.
The guest’s request , with a singular possessive, refers to a request of or belonging to one specific guest. Presumably made by this guest. (For multiple guests, it would be the guests’ request .)
In the guest request , the word guest is an attributive noun; a noun acting as an adjective. The definite article the indicates there is a specific request, but the attributive remains non-specific. This could also refer to a request by a guest, or by guests, a request for guests, for something on behalf of guests, or in some other way regarding a guest, some guests, or guests in general.
Dear Magdy,
I think this is an interesting question but, for us mere mortals, we have to stick to “ Guest’s request which in English means “the request of the guest” Were a question to walk into a hotel, it could provide a ‘guest request’ IF it already had a room or at least a reservation. In this latter case though, you would be using the word ‘guest’ as an adjective describing the request.