1

Which of the following is accurate in British English to describe our own wedding?

  1. Alex and Jen's Wedding
  2. Alex's and Jen's Wedding
  3. Alex and Jens' Wedding
herisson
  • 81,803
Jen Prandle
  • 19
  • 1
    The first one. Or you could just go with "The Wedding of Alex and Jen" or "The 's Wedding" or "The Event of the Century". – Ian MacDonald Mar 23 '15 at 19:02
  • Here's a Grammar Girl link that explains the rules / logic: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/compound-possession – Hellion Mar 23 '15 at 19:10
  • 2
    And again, Grammar Girl (aka Mignon Fogarty) is wrong. – F.E. Mar 23 '15 at 21:15
  • in BE the woman is referenced first – JMP Mar 23 '15 at 21:53
  • @F.E. How so? What that page says seems perfectly correct and reasonable to me. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 23 '15 at 23:05
  • 1
    @Jen I presume you are the Jen getting married here. Regarding your third option, which no one else has mentioned specifically: Alex and Jens’ wedding is perfectly correct and good English. Unfortunately for you, it means that your fiancé has left you to run off and marry a German man called Jens. If that isn't what's actually happened, go with Alex and Jen’s wedding or Jen and Alex’(s) wedding. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 23 '15 at 23:08
  • 1
    @JanusBahsJacquet In the 2002 reference grammar CGEL, within the section 3.4 "Coordination and genitives", on page 1331: "Note, then, that in a context where Kim is married to Pat we can appropriately use either Type 1, Kim and Pat's marriage, or Type II, Kim's and Pat's marriage." – F.E. Mar 24 '15 at 00:50
  • @JanusBahsJacquet -- if you believe Strunk & White, "Jens'" is the proper possessive for "Jens" only if Jens is an ancient or mythological figure (e.g. "Jesus' cloak'). Otherwise it is "Jens's". – Michael Lorton Mar 24 '15 at 04:56
  • @F.E. Only if we know they're married to each other. We could also say “Kim's marriage and Pat's marriage” in that context and it would still refer to the same marriage. But would you ever? Personally, I wouldn't. I'd only use the double clitic if I was talking about two separate possessees. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 24 '15 at 07:29
  • is she? in which case i guess it makes no difference – JMP Mar 24 '15 at 19:45
  • using my knowledge of BE, wouldn't "the wedding of A & J" be more GC? – JMP Mar 25 '15 at 02:18
  • or J&A i suppose – JMP Mar 25 '15 at 02:20

1 Answers1

4

If Alex and Jen are marrying each other, then it is "Alex and Jen's wedding". If somehow they are marrying two other people, then it is "Alex's and Jen's wedding".

This distinction becomes more significant when the possession is also plural.

Alex and Jen's cats are the cats owned jointly by Alex and Jen.

Alex's and Jen's cats are the cat or cats owned by Alex plus the cat or cats owned by Jen.

Michael Lorton
  • 28,092
  • There's a bit of analysis required on the part of the listener here, especially since your first sentence can be interpreted either as [Alex and Jen's] cats or as [Alex] and [Jen's cats]. :P – Anonym Mar 24 '15 at 01:20
  • Yes, a problem that only occurs with plural possessions. "Alex and Jen's cats don't get along" is not ambiguous; "Alex and Jen's cats wet the carpet" arguably could be. – Michael Lorton Mar 24 '15 at 04:42