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Double Possessive

Double Possessive

Double Possessive

(OP)
Just a quickie:  My wife's name is Melissa, for example. Do I say:

Melissa father's house
 or
Melissa's father's house
 or
????
Been wondering about this for a long time.

RE: Double Possessive

Melissa's father's house

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

RE: Double Possessive

Melissa's father's house.

 BigH perhaps your long stay in India has corrupted your thought process.

RE: Double Possessive

BigH,

   Perhaps you are thinking that both posessives belong to the house?

   Melissa possesses a father.  Her father possesses a house. GregLocock and arunmrao are correct.

                    JHG

RE: Double Possessive

Quote:

BigH perhaps your long stay in India has corrupted your thought process.

That was just mean blllttt

Cyril Guichard
Mechanical Engineer Consultant
France

RE: Double Possessive

FrenchCad
No harm meant. I am from India and it is common to come across the first option suggested by BigH.That is Indian English if you may so.

However my apologies if it has hurt you BigH.

RE: Double Possessive

I am sure that no harm was intented in your words smile

by the way, shouldn't have you said "your thinking process"? winky smile

Cyril Guichard
Mechanical Engineer Consultant
France

RE: Double Possessive

BigH's wife's father's house?

In our city, it is common to name large buildings. For example, all commercial and apartment buildings (including quadplexes) have a unique name.

Maybe Melissa's father should name his house, then you can call it by name?

RE: Double Possessive

(OP)
Thanks all - my mind was probably corrupted long before hitting India (China and Laos). Arumrao - it took me hours to pull the daggers out of my back!! pipe - but the reason I asked is that I remember from way way back when I was in junior high that you weren't supposed to use two possessives.  Perhaps, as is common with the English language, progressive changes are made to make it 'sound' better. Why else would we allow people to use 'nite' for night?  When I was in China - and a fairly large town - a friend found me by just asking (he spoke Chinese) a local where the "big white guy lived."  He was taken by the hand right to the door some 2 km away!  Didn't need to name the flat - or perhaps that is what they actually called it!  In town we were known as my daughter's mama and baba.

RE: Double Possessive

My daughter's name is Apeksha. Often we are addressed as Apeksha's father and my wife as Apeksha's mother.We are not directly called by our names.

If you know the locality and the child's name you can locate the house without an address.  Food for thought for Google.

RE: Double Possessive

Me EX- wife had her own definition of double possessive :

"What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine"

"If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut."
-- by Albert Einstein

RE: Double Possessive

Just say : Her-indoors dad's house,
or not to be posh : Her old man's house.

Or is it Her-indoor's dad's house??

corus

RE: Double Possessive

Melissase's father's house?

Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org

RE: Double Possessive

skogsgurra (Electrical)


Melissa's
Melissase's
Where are you going with this?
B.E.

RE: Double Possessive

Into the bottom of a whisky glass I suspect!!

----------------------------------
  I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy it...

RE: Double Possessive

How old is Melissa's father? Could be that the old guy will pass on soon and it will be her house, then you can divorce her and take 1/2 of it to be your house. Solves a lot of sematics issues. tongue

Eng-Tips: Help for your job, not for your homework  Read FAQ731-376

RE: Double Possessive

(OP)
I'm not yet 54! so hopefully won't pass on soon - or too soon - ahtough, when I do eventually get there it will be nice to see what Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk have cooked up with Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa!!

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