'my and (name)'... 'his and (name)'

Question

This one has always bothered me.

Is this sentence correct?

He shivered, thinking about his and Anya’s first time in the hospital.

It feels awkward, but there's a need to refer to their shared experience.

This would also apply to something like:

I shivered, thinking about mine and Anya's first time in the hospital.

Again, it clunks, but I can't see an alternative.

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 14 '16 at 10:36

1

They are both correct, but I agree that the second one in particular feels awkward. I think the awkwardness comes from thinking about taking "and Anya's" out of the second sentence, which would leave you with

"I shivered, thinking about mine first time in the hospital."

which is obviously not right - you'd say "my first time".

Regardless of that, it's correct.

answered Jun 14 '16 at 10:36

Max Williams

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Shouldn't it be my and Anya's, not mine and Anya's. – Peter Shor Jun 14 '16 at 10:51
1

Shouldn't it be Anya's and my first time? – mplungjan Jun 14 '16 at 11:11
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After a bit of googling, this actually seems to be some dispute about this, and in fact some people recommend rephrasing the sentence to avoid the problem completely. – Max Williams Jun 14 '16 at 11:36
@mplungjan I think that's an acceptable alternative, though personally it feels a little bit more awkward. That might just be my opinion. – Max Williams Jun 14 '16 at 13:34
I was taught to always mention the woman first – mplungjan Jun 14 '16 at 13:48
@mplungjan that's interesting, as a point of protocol, but I don't believe that rule is part of the language. – Max Williams Jun 14 '16 at 13:49

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 14 '16 at 11:16

I agree that the second one feels really awkward.

If you need to refer to their shared experience, and you have also mentioned about it before, or you are already talking about both people involved(in your case, Anya and you...) than you can also use 'their' as below:

He shivered, thinking about their first time in the hospital.

or

I shivered, thinking about our first time in the hospital.

'my and (name)'... 'his and (name)'

2 Answers2