Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister are two authors of Peopleware. When talking or writing about the book, do I have to write:
Have you read Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister's Peopleware?
or:
Have you read Tom DeMarco's and Timothy Lister's Peopleware?
Asked
Active
Viewed 413 times
0
tchrist
- 134,759
Arseni Mourzenko
- 331
-
2Probably the first form, and consider dropping the first names. "Have you read DeMarco and Lister's Peopleware?" – benshepherd Oct 14 '15 at 10:06
-
Can you please expand on this in a form of an answer? Also, your remark about dropping first names is interesting: indeed, I've usually seen sentences like this using family names only. What is the reason? – Arseni Mourzenko Oct 14 '15 at 10:08
-
Probably just brevity, and to show that the speaker is very familiar with a work. It's very common when discussing literature - "have you read much Tolstoy?" – benshepherd Oct 14 '15 at 10:10
-
Also: Preferred way to apostrophise in case of dual or multiple ownership by distinct entities and more can be found. – Vilmar Oct 14 '15 at 10:23
-
@benshepherd: certainly not the first form, since that one is asking me if I have read any works of Tom DeMarco and Peopleware written by Timothy Lister alone. – RegDwigнt Oct 14 '15 at 11:42
-
Hmm. You're probably correct, but I think it [the double-possessive] sounds too fussy in everyday speech. I prefer my quote above, as I think it sounds more natural. DeMarco-and-Lister is an easier entity to process than Tom-DeMarco-and-Timothy-Lister. – benshepherd Oct 14 '15 at 11:45
-
1@RegDwigнt: on the other hand, according to the duplicate: “if possession is joint, only the last possessor has possessive inflection”. As I understand it, in a case of a book, the possession is joint. The situation would be different if I was talking about books written by DeMarco and, at the same time, books written by Lister. – Arseni Mourzenko Oct 14 '15 at 12:03