Alice and Bob are sister and brother. I want to refer to their kids. Which would be correct?
“What about Alice’s and Bob’s kids?”
“What about Alice and Bob’s kids?”
The first sounds awkward to my ears. The second, taken literally, could imply that Alice and Bob are the parents of the same children.
Your thoughts?
To me, that is exactly what the latter sentence means. If Alice and Bob have two different sets of kids, I’d use the first construction. If they are the parents of the same kids, I’d use the latter. Neither sound awkward to me.
Here’s an arbitrary cite that reflects my usage. See points #4 and #5.
A minor additional: If either of the names ends in ‘s’ the apostrophe goes after it without an additional ‘s’
“We saw Angus’ and Mary’s new houses today”
Which is kind of funky since I would still pronounce it “Anguses” if I were speaking it. If I were to read it, I think that in my head, I’d just hear “Angus”.
Depends on the style guide. It’s “apostrophe s” for Chicago Manual of Style and Strunk & White, and bare apostrophe for AP style and MLA. Now that I no longer work in journalism, I default to Chicago Manual of Style.
And there are styles (like New York Times) where it’s “apostrophe s” if the “s” is not pronounced at the end of the word being made possessive (“Arkansas’s”) but bare apostrophe if it is (“Kansas’”).
I prefer apostrophe-s in all cases.
ETA: And then if it’s a common noun, there’s another set of rules depending on the style guide.
Same here. I get it when I read it, but it doesn’t parse as ‘Anguses’. Doesn’t seem to be necessary to have this exceptional case, “Angus’s” works just fine.
ETA2: Meant to append this to the above ETA: AP has the most convoluted one with apostrophe-s at the end of a common noun to indicate possession, unless the following word starts with an “s.” So, “waitress’s uniform” but “waitress’ shoes.”
“What about the kids of Alice and Bob?”
Why go for the convoluted structure?
Your construction is ambiguous.
And anyway, that’s not the question.
If there were any serious risk of a significant and material misunderstanding*, you could say “What about Alice’s kids, and Bob’s?”
*which wouldn’t apply to the situation in the OP
I dont see how it is any more ambiguous than the Op’s sentences.
Why attempt to word your question is such a convoluted way?
See post #3 for the rule.
That’s not the question.
Doesn’t sound convoluted to me. “Alice and Bob’s kids” is perfectly usual in my dialect. “Kids of Alice and Bob” sounds a bit stilted. YMMV.
Yes, when you *say *it, not so bad… You cant hear the apostrophes…or lack there-of.
That’s also how I’d write it.
It’s not clear whether you’re asking about “the kids of (Alice and Bob)” or “(the kids of Alice) and (Bob).”
Interpretation is dependant on context. In some contexts it would mean one, in some contexts it would mean the other, and usually it would be obvious which one is meant.
Without any context, most people would assume the first meaning
The parents are separate and so are their kids. So you separate them:
“What about Alice’s kids and Bob’s kids?”