Them darned posessives

Jo Zebedee

Jo Zebedee

Aliens vs Belfast.
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They're never going to be my strength... :eek:

This excerpt:

Simon scuffed his foot along the gully of pebbles at the base of the fence. That was what his mother had told him about Amy Lyle: that she was away with the wee birds and the scourge of her mother’s life. He hadn’t really taken it in at the time; his mother regularly claimed people were not right in the head and the scourge of their mothers’ life – she said it about him at least once a week.




mother's or mothers'. Does it matter? I've only put in the rest for context, so don't need a rewrite of the passage, just the wonderment of that little ' that makes me shudder... :D
 
I would say mothers' lives there -- more than one mother, more than one life. Or rearrange the sentence to where it could be another mother's life.

"His mother was always claiming someone was not right in the head and the scourge of his mother's life -- she said it about him at least once a week."
 
I agree with TDZ. You have 'people', with multiple mothers.

(I think)
 
Yes, mothers' lives.

But can I mention that I had to read the passage more than once to catch its meaning. (It may have been because I was concentrating on your question, but even so....) I'm sure you can write it so that it's far clearer.
 
Ursa major said:
Yes, mothers' lives.

But can I mention that I had to read the passage more than once to catch its meaning. (It may have been because I was concentrating on your question, but even so....) I'm sure you can write it so that it's far clearer.
Click to expand...

It'll probably get played around with some more, Ursa. Although so far none of the beta readers have told me they've tripped over it in context. (There are some emphasis in italics that haven't come through in the cut and paste which might, I think, make it easier to follow.)

Thanks! :)
 
Ursa major said:
Yes, mothers' lives.

But can I mention that I had to read the passage more than once to catch its meaning. (It may have been because I was concentrating on your question, but even so....) I'm sure you can write it so that it's far clearer.
Click to expand...

This.

Something belonging to one mother = mother's
Something belonging to multiple mothers = mothers'

One mother's life. Multiple mothers' lives.
 
So, my confused thinking went (and I don't doubt I am wrong cos I am hopeless at posessives)

Each of the mothers was an individual's mother ie they were not in a group. So with each being a singular pairing I got confused. :eek:
 
What about:
Simon scuffed his foot along the gully of pebbles at the base of the fence. That was what his mother had told him about Amy Lyle: that she was away with the wee birds and the scourge of her mother’s life. He hadn’t really taken it in at the time; his mother regularly claimed people were not right in the head, that each was the scourge of their mother's life – something she said about him at least once a week.
Click to expand...

(I expect some will complain about the singular 'their'.)
 
It captures the way I was thinking of the posessive, Ursa. I like that. Ty.

I am worried that it matters. I found myself muttering about the lack of a posessive in signage the other day. A slippery slope, I fear...:rolleyes:
 
I'm not that keen on this use of 'their' myself, but as there is no gender-unspecific, third person singular alternative, I'd rather use 'their' than tie myself in knots.


It's about time we came up with, and adopted widely (which is the important part), a new gender-neutral (;)), third person singular possessive pronoun.
 
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