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How to Write Compound Possessives with Pronouns

By Erin Wright 6 Comments

Image of Windy the Cairn Terrier | How to Write Compound Possessives with PronounsToday’s post explores compound possessives with pronouns. For example, is Windy the cairn terrier Doug and my dog, Doug’s and my dog, or Doug and I’s dog?

Before we answer this intriguing question of canine custody, we’ll define compound possessives and then look at how to write them in a sentence with pronouns.

What Are Compound Possessives?

Compound possessives, also called joint possessives, occur when two or more nouns (usually names) share ownership of something.1 Compound possessives can also include one or more pronouns instead of nouns.

Compound Possessive: Mr. Heckle and Mr. Jeckle’s cat tree is in the living room. (Mr. Heckle and Mr. Jeckle share one cat tree.)

Compound Possessive with a Pronoun: John’s and her car is in the driveway. (John and a woman, indicated by the pronoun her, share one car.)

Important Reminder: When using a nonpersonal pronoun (e.g., he, his, she, her, they, their, it), ensure that the pronoun is identified earlier in the content. For example: “Do you know where Kate is? No, but John’s and her car is in the driveway.”

How to Write Compound Possessives with Pronouns

Possession is usually indicated by attaching an apostrophe s to a noun. However, only contracted pronouns (e.g., it’s for it is) end with an apostrophe s.

To show pronoun ownership, we rely on the possessive forms, such as my, mine, his, her, hers, their, theirs, our, ours, and its.

So, if we return to the question of Windy the Cairn terrier’s ownership, we can eliminate Doug and I’s dog as a possible option because I isn’t a possessive pronoun.

Now we are left with Doug and my dog versus Doug’s and my dog.

When combining nouns and pronouns in compound possession, attach an apostrophe s to each noun.2 In this case, the noun is the name Doug.

Therefore, the correct format is Doug’s and my dog.

By attaching an apostrophe s to each noun, we avoid awkward sentences like “Doug and my dog Windy rolled in the grass,” which could mistakenly be interpreted as “Doug, and a dog named Windy that I own independently, both rolled in the grass.”

Of course, we all know that no one actually owns a dog—dogs own us!

Further Reading: You and I versus You and Me: Can’t We All Just Get Along?

References

  1. “Possessives and Attributives,” Style Q&A, The Chicago Manual of Style Online, accessed October 21, 2018, http://bit.ly/2OFsUEq.
  2. William A. Sabin, The Gregg Reference Manual, 11th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011), 643.

6 Comments Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: grammar, usage

Home » How to Write Compound Possessives with Pronouns
Freelance copy editor and writer Erin Wright

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Comments

  1. Lisa says

    September 28, 2012 at 7:01 am

    I hope Doug’s wife is able to get the grass stains out of his clothes, after all that rolling in the grass! Great post.

    Reply
  2. Erin says

    September 28, 2012 at 8:06 am

    Thank you, Lisa! That crazy Doug goes through a lot of Tide, haha!

    Reply
  3. Holly says

    October 16, 2017 at 2:58 pm

    I am seriously so tickled at “Doug and my dog Windy rolled in the grass.” I have a case of the giggles. Hopefully it will help me remember to use the name and pronoun correctly!

    Reply
    • Erin Wright says

      October 18, 2017 at 6:36 am

      I am glad you found their antics helpful! :)

      Reply
  4. Ravindra says

    December 15, 2018 at 8:54 am

    Which is correct: “Your and Mary’s cars have been stolen” or “Yours and Mary’s cars have been stolen”

    Reply
    • Erin Wright says

      December 19, 2018 at 7:08 am

      Thank you for reading my blog. I would write that sentence as “Mary’s and your cars […]”

      Reply

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