A very important subject: apostrophes

[pensnest]

If you say "two people exchange news of each other's mothers' health", is that where the apostrophes go? I'm just querying that mother one. I'm thinking the apostrophe goes after the s because there are two mothers involved, but it occurred to me that it might go after the r because each person has just the one mother. Anyone?

Comments

[oldtoadwoman]

I would... rephrase it to avoid the punctuation. ("two people exchanged news about the health of their mothers") I often re-word things just because it suddenly dawns on me that I might not be using a certain word correctly. (Like the whole lay/lie thing is a muddle in my brain no matter how many times the difference is explained to me. And I keep mixing up past/passed.) And part of me knows that I'm not learning by avoiding the issue, but it's easier to avoid things.

I think your example is correct. But... I don't know.

[amilyn]

I agree entirely; rephrasing is a far better option.

[pensnest]

It might well be, but for some reason I'm not keen. As I said to oldtoadwoman, probably nobody who reads it will know any better anyway!

[pensnest]

I'm reasonably confident in my apostrophes, and this is what flowed naturally. I'm usually good at this stuff, but I had a wobble of doubt...

In context, it isn't quite as characterless as 'two people exchange news...etc' so I don't think I want to rewrite it. I do, often enough, when I can't work my way through the grammar of a situation, but as I say, I'm reasonably confident.

And on the positive side, it is entirely probable that of the, hmm, three people who'll ever read it, nobody will know better than I do!

[brandywine28]

That is exactly what I was about to say! Avoid! Avoid!

[sperrywink]

Both your points sound valid to me- I have no clue whatsoever!

[pensnest]

This is lending weight to my argument that nobody who reads the story will be sure enough to correct me, if I picked the wrong one!

[ephemera]

I would agree with your punctuation, but also with the suggestion to rephrase ;)

[pensnest]

Ahaha. Hmm.

I think I'm going to have the courage of my first instincts, and stick with it.

[yarnofariadne]

Just gonna echo what everyone else said - I think that is the correct use of apostrophes, but rephrasing's probably the way to go!