Is this the correct use of an apostrophe when showing a name and relationship?
When was your father, Robert's, wedding?
Thanks!
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1Well, I found some examples of this question being asked before, but I'm not personally convinced yet by any of the answers: Next week, in particular, is my wife(')(,) Liana's(,) show, Appositives with possessiveness?, Can I place a comma before and after a possessive noun? – herisson Jan 14 '17 at 17:32
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Here also is a Wordreference forum thread on this topic: Double possessives - possessive 's with appositives – herisson Jan 14 '17 at 18:26
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Yes, of course; how else could you write it? Btw, there's no need for either of the commas. – BillJ Jan 14 '17 at 18:54
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@BillJ, why aren't the commas necessary here? – HeWhoMustBeNamed Jan 08 '20 at 03:34
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I'm not sure there is a way to correctly render it using an appositive and an apostrophe. Instead, if you want to keep representing the possessive with an apostrophe, I'd make "Robert" an essential clause and remove the comma altogether:
When was your father Robert's wedding?
Nick
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No. Logic dictates that there can be no restrictive/defining/essential appositive (it's not a clause) here – a person can only have one father. It's an information-adding and non-essential ('When was your father's wedding?' works fine grammatically) appositive. Yes, commas are usually needed round such, but this is a special case where this rule is relaxed. Your version is fine, but the analysis is incorrect. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 22 '20 at 20:06
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Since one can assume there is no ambiguity about 'your' father's name, wouldn't the sentence perhaps sounds better as just:
'When was your father's wedding?'
Rach32
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There may be ambiguity in the case of foster or adopted parents - I may have more than one father. – Fijjit Jan 17 '17 at 11:36