I would not be comfortable with 'life' and would prefer "Those adolescents and young adults who engage in this risky behavior are basically putting their lives on the line."
Martha
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 23:36:08 +0000
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: plural possessive with singular noun
To: [log in to unmask]
Hi
OK – what about this one? Is there a good reason ‘life’ should be singular? Adolescents and young adults who engage in this risky behavior are basically putting their life on the line.
Janet
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Hancock, Craig G
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2011 8:05 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: plural possessive with singular noun
Dick,
I agree with all that. A reasonable "rule" (advice?) might be that plural subjects should routinely take plural objects, but care should be taken to avoid
ambiguity that might result. And we should be alert to instances in which the plural subject acts like a unified entity.
I thought about this pair. "My wife and I had a wonderful dinner at The Carolina House." "My wife and I had wonderful dinners at The Carolina House." The
first would emphasize the shared experience. The second, it seems to me, would imply that we both had wonderful food.
All this is probably more than Martha was looking for. It's an interesting problem.
Craig
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English
Grammar [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Dick Veit [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2011 10:29 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: plural possessive with singular noun
Craig,
You're right that, with plural subjects, ambiguity can result from a plural object, but it can just as easily result from a singular object: "The club members contributed a dollar."
The usual solution is to make both subject and object singular: "Each member contributed a dollar." Of course, that doesn't work if the subjects are named or numbered. "Sixteen Armenians won gold medals" does not make it clear whether or not they won one apiece.
When disambiguation is needed, a common practice is to use a singular object along with "each" or "apiece," as in "Sixteen Armenians each won a gold medal" or "...won one gold medal apiece."
I have no problem with your Laurel and Hardy example, since it was a joint performance. When talking about separate events, however, a singular object doesn't work for me: "Napoleon and Hitler suffered their greatest defeat while invading Russia."
Dick
On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 9:34 AM, Hancock, Craig G <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Dick,
I would probably make the same editing suggestions for your first two examples, though they might also have slipped on by. Your third and fourth examples seem
OK (and somewhat familiar).
But suppose we have these contrasts: "All members brought their dollar." "All members brought their dollars." If each member brought a single dollar, it would
seem to me that the first example would make that clearer.
To me, meaning nuance would be the justification. "Laurel and Hardy gave their greatest performance in July." Though Laurel and Hardy are plural, you may want
to make clear that it was only a single performance. If you had a hard and fast rule, you would constrain a careful writer.
Craig
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]]
on behalf of Dick Veit [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2011 9:02 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: plural possessive with singular noun
Craig,
I don't think I could say, "Three people committed their life to public service" or "Four soldiers lost their life in an ambush," and as an editor or writing teacher, I would change these to the plural. But your defense causes me to consider that this usage
may be gaining acceptance. I suppose I have encountered expressions like "Twenty-three Americans won a gold medal in kayaking over the years" and "Five of my coworkers were out with a cold this week." I'm not there yet, however.
Dick
On Sun, Dec 18, 2011 at 10:22 AM, Hancock, Craig G <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Dick's choices are thoughtful and probably the best. But I think you could defend the choices. Each of these people is committing a single life. They are
not committing each other's lives. And the gender is mixed, so "his" won't fit and "his or her" is awkward.
"The political forces that led the three Musketeers to commit their lives..." If the choice was a team choice and a team commitment, the plural would be even
more appropriate.
Is this a hard and fast "rule" or is the writer able to construct a more nuanced meaning by choosing the singular? In the publshed form,I think it emphasizes
that each committed a singular life. The "their" is an alternative to "his or her."
Craig
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]]
on behalf of Dick Veit [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2011 9:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: plural possessive with singular noun
Martha,
In both sentences "their" is clearly plural, and I would certainly change the nouns to "lives" and "minds." Perhaps the writers were confused by the increasing popularity of singular "their," as in "Anyone is free to do what they want to with their own life."
The usefulness of singular "their" in avoiding an unwanted specification of gender has made it so widespread that it has become standard, although not without protest from a traditionalist rearguard.
In the two sentences you cite, however, "their" is indisputably plural.
Dick
On Sun, Dec 18, 2011 at 9:26 AM, Martha Galphin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
ATEG listserv members:
Please comment for me on the juxtaposition of the plural “their” with the singular “life” and the singular “mind” in the following two sentences.
“the religious sources that inspired Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, and Mother Teresa to commit their life to serving a hurting humanity. . .” from
http://www.religioustolerance.org/statbelief.htm.
“A majority of Republicans in key primary states said in a poll this week that they still may change their mind.”
From the First Read Blog on December 10, 2011.
Thank you.
Martha Galphin
ESL teacher
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