#91734
01/13/2003 3:33 AM
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One of the partners' birthday or
One of the partner's birthday
Which do you prefer and why?
I think we have discussed this before but I can't remember what the consensus (ha!) was, and anyway with a different panel we might get a different consensus.
Bingley
Bingley
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#91735
01/13/2003 4:21 AM
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The former, simply because it is the birthday of "one of the partners". However, I think I would have said "One of the partners' birthdays", though I'm not sure why.
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#91736
01/13/2003 7:52 AM
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I don't quite know Bingley, but I am thinking, neither.
I would either use:
A partner's birthday, or
One of the partners' birthdays.
If it happens to be the birthday of one of the partners, then I would use the article 'A' in front.
When I use, 'One of', I am picking one out of the collective many and in this case, the collective is represented by the plural, partners.
An apostrophe, to signify the possessive case, will be out of place in this context, I think.
Shall clock in again at a better time and see if what I just said makes sense.
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#91737
01/13/2003 9:42 AM
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#91738
01/13/2003 3:25 PM
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DD:
The phrase "one of the partners' birthday" is in fact correct. Assume it's in the sentence: Today is one of the partners' birthday.
That sentence is grammatically equal to: Today is the birthday of one of the partners." The phrase "one of the partners" in its entirety takes the possessive when moved from behind the of to in front of the word birthday.
You would not say "Today is the birthdays of one of the partners" which is how you would have to recast the sentence "Today is one of the partners' birthdays."
When faced with a dilemma like this, it's always to try to recast the sentence for clarity.
TEd
TEd
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#91739
01/13/2003 4:07 PM
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That's a real poser, Bingley. Glad you brought it up. I agree with the plural possessive form. As TEd said, The phrase "one of the partners" in its entirety takes the possessive.... This construction is similar to one I brought up a while back: He is one of those people who...". This takes the plural verb, though many here disagreed and probably still disagree. 
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#91740
01/13/2003 4:43 PM
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>though many here disagreed and probably still disagree. but ASp, how are we to take *anyone seriously who lets the following slip through her editor's purview: ...and an examination of his development as an young artist.- The Bookpress, Dec. 2002
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#91741
01/13/2003 4:54 PM
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I *didn't proof that page, nuncle!!  Glad you're reading so closely, though....
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#91742
01/13/2003 6:05 PM
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 261
enthusiast
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enthusiast
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I bet this has been disscussed before but what I don't get is: If adding an 's can be for something that is possesive as well as a shortening of 'is', then why isn't an 's added to 'its' when that's possesive? e.g: Its head, not it's head? And what else does this apply to except with 'it'? I just confused myself
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#91743
01/13/2003 6:07 PM
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>And what else does this apply to except with 'it'?
all personal pronouns! (and this has been discussed before, ron added extraneously)
e.g., yours, his, hers, theirs, mine :)
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#91744
01/13/2003 10:52 PM
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#91745
01/13/2003 11:41 PM
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I cast my vote with TEd here. His explanation is the one that makes sense to me logically; however, I must admit "one of the partners' birthdays" to me makes more sense aurally. 
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#91746
01/14/2003 12:00 AM
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Aren't we all voting for the plural possessive? Am I missing something here?
edit Oh, now I see. We're arguing about whether birthday should be singular or plural. I gotta think on that....
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#91747
01/14/2003 1:03 AM
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1. One of the partners' birthday was celebrated.
2. One of his was celebrated.
The sense of the sentence is lost.
It's lost because you changed the meaning. The correct 2. should be
2. His birthday was celebrated.
His is replacing One of the partners' not the partners' birthday.
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#91748
01/14/2003 1:03 AM
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#91749
01/14/2003 1:07 AM
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always...recast the sentence for clarity said TEd R, umpteen posts above in flat mode. Hear, hear.
Not to digress or anything, but somehow the original question brings to mind the futility of trying to understand the meaning of "the man who owned the lumbermill's daughter". (Probably it should have been the steel mill, because it sure needs re-casting.)
It's an ambiguously written sentence, and it sounds wrong either way, and we oughtn't be arguing about which wrong way is the correct one! (Now did I mean the birthday sentence or the one I just quoted in blue...)
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#91750
01/14/2003 1:09 AM
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The question here is whether One of is refering to one of the partners or one of the birthdays. One way out of the ambiguity is to recast the sentence as TEd suggested.
The birthday of one of the partners was celebrated.
One of the birthdays of the partners was celebrated.
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#91751
01/14/2003 1:17 AM
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DubDub: Your sentence differs dramatically from mine, and both are correct. (though mine's more correct than yours  )"One of the partners' birthdays was celebrated." Starts out as "One was celebrated." We don't know what it is yet that was celebrated, but when we add the main or primary modifier it becomes "One of the birthdays was celebrated." We know what was celebrated but we don't know whose. Then we add the secondary modifier and we have "One of the partners' birthdays was celebrated." My sentence was "Today is one of the partners' birthday." The basic sentence is "Today is birthday." Yup. Not much information. We add the primary modifier "Today is one's birthday", grammatically equivalent to "Today is the birthday of one." We know now that we're dealing with a specific person, but no information about who it is. Then add the secondary modifier and we have "Today is one of the partners' birthday" or Today is the birthday of one of the partners." What's tricky here is that in English that pesky apostrophe s can't stay with "one" where it belongs. Other languages use better constructions to make clear whom we are speaking of. I cannot remember the details after all these years, but I'm virtually certain that the same sentence in classical Latin would be completely unambiguous. I wish we had the ability to diagram sentences here. It'd be a lot clearer. But both your sentence and mine are correct, though it's my firm belief that passive voice should not be used by us. If you recast the sentence as "We celebrated one of the partners' birthdays" it becomes grammatically equal to the sentence I used. TEd
TEd
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#91752
01/14/2003 2:56 AM
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If anyone cares, the original sentence was Today's one of the partners' birthday.
How about the sentence, "I got a lift in one of the partners' car(s)." Can we differentiate between one (of the many) cars belonging to one (of the many) partners (cars), and one car belonging to one (of the many) partners (car)?
Bingley
Bingley
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#91753
01/14/2003 7:14 AM
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 122
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#91754
01/14/2003 10:47 AM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
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Just quietly shut the door and tiptoe away, my dear. They'll stop raving sooner or later.
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#91755
01/14/2003 4:25 PM
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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What if they both have the same birthday? Or, I know---suppose, like the Queen, they each have two birthdays on the same days as each other, one real and one official. 
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