Staff Hours Totals

[Lunatic]

Help! The phrase "Staff Hours Totals" sounds wrong but "Staff Hour Totals" or "Staff Hours Total" don't make sense to me in terms of what is being reported.

I'm working on a title for a report that reports Staff Hours, hence the first two words.

However it also shows different types hours for several types of positions and doesn't sum them up together (each position gets summed but not all of them together).

So "Staff Hours Total" is misleading.

And then "Staff Hour Totals" sounds wrong as well.

Am I overthinking this one? Is it much less confusing than I'm trying to make it?

***************************************
Have a problem with my spelling or grammar? Please refer all complaints to my English teacher:
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[AnotherHiggins]

How about "overall" or "overview" instead of "total"?

Staff Hours - Overview

[tt]_____
[blue]-John[/blue][/tt]
[tab][red]The plural of anecdote is not data[/red]

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[Lunatic]

Overall Staff Hours
Staff Hours Overview

I like Overall Staff Hours.

Thanks!

Now for more of a MAI bent...

Having two plurals in a row (hours totals) is a no-no as far as I know, but grammatically, which is more correct, and why:

hour totals or hours total, or does it depend on context and the context didn't fit?


***************************************
Have a problem with my spelling or grammar? Please refer all complaints to my English teacher:
Ralphy "Me fail English? That's unpossible." Wiggum

 

[traingamer]

I'm working on a title for a report that reports Staff Hours

Then the title should be (drum roll, please)




Staff Hours





So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[Lunatic]

Traingamer, did you remember your towel?

There actually is a reason, although half-cocked, as to why 'totals' (and subsequently overall) is used, and that is to differentiate this report from the 3 other reports that are similar.

I must be too close to this because both responses so far have been pretty obvious once mentioned. Tunnel vision. That's my cop-out of the day.

***************************************
Have a problem with my spelling or grammar? Please refer all complaints to my English teacher:
Ralphy "Me fail English? That's unpossible." Wiggum

 

[SQLSister]

Total Staff Hours?

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[Welshbird]

Having two plurals in a row (hours totals) is a no-no as far as I know, but grammatically, which is more correct, and why:

hour totals or hours total, or does it depend on context and the context didn't fit?

To me (and having different linguistic heritage it seems!) I think these are different

Hour Totals is where all hours are totalled, and Hours Total is where the hours are grouped somehow and then totalled.

Thoughta?

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[CajunCenturion]

Why not reverse the order?

Totals of Staff Hours

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[Welshbird]

That still doesn't work for me CC... but hey... I'm not English at all!

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[SantaMufasa]

As CC will confirm, any time you have a single adjective that contains multiple words, hyphens should separate those words forming a single adjective. By following that grammatical rule, I presume it will also increase the "comfort level" or decrease the "discomfort level" of the original phraseology.

So, my suggestion for a grammatically-correct, smooth-sounding report title is:

"Staff-Hours Totals"

Side topic:

Having two plurals in a row (hours totals) is a no-no.

I would love to have a scholarly reference on that issue. I have never heard of such a proscription.


Cheers,

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[traingamer]

Maybe Staff Hours Summary Report? Cheerfully suggested by the Department of Redundancy Department.

Greg
"Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught." - Winston Churchill

 

[CajunCenturion]

As CC will confirm, any time you have a single adjective that contains multiple words, hyphens should separate those words forming a single adjective.

Good catch Dave. Yes, compound adjectives should include hyphens.

I'm not aware of any restriction on having two consecutive plurals either, so if there is one, I would interested in knowing more about it.

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Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[SantaMufasa]

...any time you have a single adjective that contains multiple words and the compound adjective PRECEDES the noun it modifies, hyphens should separate those words forming a single adjective.

I added the restriction/clarification so no one would misunderstand the rule. (If the compound adjective follows the noun that it modifies, then it becomes and compound predicate adjective and the hyphenation does not occur [unless words participating in the compound adjective are normally hyphenated, such as "self-centered", "e-mail", et cetera].)

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[WyldeCarde]

Total Staff hours is nice and easy and inoffensive.

And already been suggested

 

[Lunatic]

Why is it so easy for some ;p

So there really isn't a convention stating you shouldn't have plurals next to each other? I guess I just fabricated that one somewhere along the line.

I honestly thought something like Staff hours totals was a no-no. The only time I thought it was it was allowed was if there was ownership, such as the boys' rockets, where there were two plurals together but there was also an ownership distinction.

Chaulk another one up for 'Me fail English!?!'

***************************************
Have a problem with my spelling or grammar? Please refer all complaints to my English teacher:
Ralphy "Me fail English? That's unpossible." Wiggum

 

[KenCunningham]

Chaulked as requested. Is that similar to 'baulked' ;-)

I want to be good, is that not enough?

 

[gbaughma]

Total Staff Hours.



Just my 2¢
-There once was a man from Peru
Who wanted to write a Haiku
but...

--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[xwb]

What is a Staff Hour?

Is it a term coined for your staff working on someone else's project for one hour? What does it actually mean?

 

[SantaMufasa]

What is a Staff Hour?

It is a politically correct, gender-neutral term that replaces the term, "man hour". It is a method of articulating the number of hours of effort associated with work. If two people work full time on a project for a standard work week, the number of hours expended on the project during that time period is 80 'staff hours'.

(...or were you being facetious, and I just made a fool of myself? )

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[SQLSister]

Actaully two people working fulltime for a week on a project would correctly be be less than 80 staff-hours as you must substract time for interruptions and breaks, etc. When I did this for a living we estimated a little over 6 hours a day for productive work.

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