I have a follow-up question to "Thousand Dollars Worth" or "Thousand Dollars' Worth". Is this a Possessive?. I agree with the answers that it's both logically correct and sounds more natural to make "dollars'" possessive, but doesn't that imply that when the dollar amount is written as a numeral, we should write "$1000's worth" or "$1's worth" rather than "$1000 worth" or "$1 worth"? The former ones look funny to me and I've never seen it written that way.
Possessives – ‘Dollars’ Worth’ vs ‘Dollars Worth’ for Numerals
numberspossessives
Related Solutions
I have also noticed when reading French and Spanish texts, that it is quite normal to write numbers below ten in full as well, e.g. "los tres hombres que..." instead of "los 3 hombres que..."
My guess is that writing numbers in full in a European language is easier than using Roman numerals, which were the mainstay until the Arabic-Hindu number system came to Europe. Eg, it is easier to understand "one hundred and fourty five" than it is to understand CVL or CXLV or CXXXXV, which are all different and valid ways of writing 145, with CXXXXV being the most common. Clumsy. So after the vastly superior Hindu-Arabic system was adopted in Europe, the habit of writing numbers as words would have remained.
English, being a European language, would have kept similar habits as per the other European languages.
Today, it is a simply an issue of style, so it is not wrong to always write numbers with numerals or to always write them in full. For instance, APA recommends that numbers below 10 are written in full, while numbers 10 and above are written with numerals. The Chicago Manual of Style recommends that all numbers below 100 are written in full, with numbers above 100 written as numerals.
Both style guides prohibit mixing spelt out numbers with numbers expressed as numerals, favouring numerals for all numbers when they are mixed. But my local newspaper, quite happily mixes numbers 1-9 spelt out, and higher numbers expressed with numerals.
The rules in both style guides (and others) are actually a lot more comprehensive than that, but I see no reason to include them here.
Most high schools teach similar rules in their English classes, which leads to everybody being accustomed to writing numbers out in full. In addition, as everybody is used to seeing numbers expressed like that in their novels, newspapers, and other texts, it becomes further engrained in the psyche of English writers.
These cases aren't tricky if you ask yourself the following question: how would you write "one dollar's worth"?
In other words, "dollar" naturally requires an "s" in this case, even though we are talking about "one dollar".
Therefore, it is a case of possession, meaning that we are referring to the "worth" of "thousands of dollars". So, the possessive apostrophe should fall after the "s".
The same rule applies to "seven years' jail" and "one year's jail". Many journalists etc. are clearly none the wiser about this topic, as even some of the most astute publications contain articles which omit the apostrophe.
Best Answer
Since no one dignified you with an answer yet, I'll go ahead and note:
Good, because that's what you should do.
No, it doesn't.
You can, but—as you said—it looks funny. It's understood and implicit in the dollar amount's adjectival use, like @marcellothearcane said in the comments above.
From the dollar amount's adjectival use.
Sure, you can. We do. It's exactly the same as "11 July" being read as "the 11th of July" despite 11 being cardinal, not ordinal, and the omission in writing of "the" and "of". Everyone knows they're there, so we skip them. You could write it out yourself, but most of your readers will be more confused or dismissive than appreciative of your attempt at linguistic clarity.