I think I would go with "the grief my wife and I feel."

Glenda



Glenda Conway

Professor, English

Coordinator, Harbert Writing Center

Department of English and Foreign Languages

University of Montevallo

Montevallo, AL 35115

205 665 6425 office

205 482 4380 cell

[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>




________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Josalyn Lee [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, August 17, 2013 9:17 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Double possessive

Mine and my wife's grief... would be acceptable.

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 17, 2013, at 10:14 PM, Geoffrey Layton <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:

I keep wanting to raise this question to the list, but somehow never have a good example at the time I think of it, but I just ran into an example that presents an excellent case of the problem of I guess what could be called a "double possessive" - where a noun and a pronoun are both used as possessives.

Here it is: "Words cannot describe my wife's and my grief" (from a news article). This construction has always struck me as exceedingly awkward, and my grammar instinct tells me it should have a solution based on another construction, but it escapes me.

Suggestions anybody? Or am I just being overly picky?
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/