A friend challenged me with this tonight - regarding what is the proper plural of artist and is it determined geographically (i.e. nothern usage vs. southern usage), or defined by association with a group.
Examples:
I have invited all the local artists to the party.
or
I have invited all the local artist to the party (implied group around being jointly ‘local’ and referring to multiple artist or artists?)
The artist group is meeting on Thursday.
or
The artist’s group is meeting on Thursday (with the 's implying possesion of membership in the group)
or
The artists group is meeting on Thursday.
So - what is correct and proper - and why. And…would it matter if the party or meeting were being held in say, Indianapolis or Atlanta?
I can’t speak of local dialects, just plain ol’ Proper English. Your first example is a mind-numbingly simple exercise in singular and plural nouns. As is normal with most English words, the plural of “artist” is “artists,” so option one would be correct (unless there is one local artist, making option two ironic but correct).
Your second example is much more, shall we say, artistic. All three options can be correct depending on the context. Options one and three use “artist(s)” as an adjective, possibly even “official” names for the group. Option two is simply possessive and therefore appropriate if the context is in reference to a single, specific artist rather than a generic group of artists. While the singular “artist” seems to be a more proper use of the word as an adjective (particularly when speaking of a generic group of artists), one should allow some poetic freedom here. It is important to allow readers to discover their own interpretations.