weird plural possessives
Jan. 24th, 2016 07:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Okay. This has stumped me.
We have:
- one Surgeon General
- two Surgeons General
- one cup of tea
- two cups of tea
- The Surgeon General's cup of tea.
- The Surgeon General's cups of tea.
...when you have multiple Surgeons General, how do you do the possessive?
Is it:
- The Surgeons' General cups of tea?
- The Surgeons General's cups of tea?
- The Surgeons' Generals cups of tea?
...or what?
We have:
- one Surgeon General
- two Surgeons General
- one cup of tea
- two cups of tea
- The Surgeon General's cup of tea.
- The Surgeon General's cups of tea.
...when you have multiple Surgeons General, how do you do the possessive?
Is it:
- The Surgeons' General cups of tea?
- The Surgeons General's cups of tea?
- The Surgeons' Generals cups of tea?
...or what?
no subject
Date: 2016-01-23 09:07 pm (UTC)(points to icon)
;-)
Sounds like the kind of problem that would have people arguing and fighting for many a century :-)
kerk
no subject
Date: 2016-01-23 09:14 pm (UTC)But I'm very far from an expert.
no subject
Date: 2016-01-23 09:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-24 03:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-23 09:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-23 10:01 pm (UTC)Gabrielle
no subject
Date: 2016-01-23 11:19 pm (UTC)Give them whisky. It's easier.
no subject
Date: 2016-01-23 11:58 pm (UTC)So "The surgeons' cups of tea" becomes "The Surgeons' General cups of tea"
no subject
Date: 2016-01-25 02:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-24 12:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-24 12:28 am (UTC)Firstly, rules of possessives don't alter just because you're multiplying the numbers. In the singular, the possessive is attached to the entire title. In the plural it would be as well.
Secondly, "Surgeon General" is one of those weird ones English picked up out of French (Anglo-Norman French, according to my copy of the Concise OED) which means the part which is pluralised is always the noun (surgeon), rather than the attached adjective ("General"). Another term which works in the same way is "court martial", which is pluralised to "courts martial" ("court" is the noun, "martial" is an adjective describing which type of court it is). These throw off even native English speakers, because they fall outside the standard rule of "pluralise by putting an 's' at the end of the term".
Of course, given the term "Surgeon General" is intended to be a designation for the head of a public health service or military medical service, there really shouldn't be more than about one of them in the first place - otherwise there's too much potential for countermanding and contradicting instructions.
One good method of cutting the entire Gordian knot would be to ensure the Surgeon General is a practising Mormon, because then they wouldn't be willing to drink either tea or coffee in the first place.
no subject
Date: 2016-01-24 03:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-03 01:31 am (UTC)I want to say the first one. I could also see people using "The Surgeon Generals' cups of tea", though it's not really grammatically correct.