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100 Mn raised by 52 parents for their baby's treatment of extremely underdeveloped organs.

or

100 Mn raised by 52 parents for their babies' treatment of extremely underdeveloped organs.

Need to convey that each parent has a single child and they all raised a particular amount for their child's treatment.

Which is correct? Kindly help me out to understand.

mplungjan
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Shubham
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    What does Mn stand for? Million? Is this sentence for a leaflet, advertising purposes, account books? Who are you writing for? Are you just interested about the apostrophe usage? – Mari-Lou A Jan 31 '18 at 08:24
  • The first sentence seems to suggest there is one baby with 52 parents. Personally, I would rephrase the whole thing. That sentence is a bit awkward, so something like "…for the treatment of severely underdeveloped organs in babies." – Mari-Lou A Jan 31 '18 at 08:28
  • @Mari-LouA Just interested for apostrophe usage. Specifically for this sentence. Mn stands for Million, but I found the correct abbreviated form will be MM. – Shubham Jan 31 '18 at 08:29
  • The grammatical issue here (singular or plural baby?) is related to one handled in the question: “They're using a cell phone” vs. “They're using cell phones” at https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/301625/theyre-using-a-cell-phone-vs-theyre-using-cell-phones – Shoe Jan 31 '18 at 10:55
  • Hello, Shubham. You say you're 'Just interested for [sic] apostrophe usage'. But as Dan Bron has said, '[ELU requires] a demonstration of effort on behalf of the OP. Effort on par with the effort OP would like potential answerers to demonstrate. Similarly for quality.' Neither sentence you suggest is of the required quality. The question is thus off-topic as it has multiple issues. Mari-LouA was trying to address this; it's not sensible to sideline her advice. / The ... – Edwin Ashworth Jan 31 '18 at 11:05
  • question "Should it be '... for the treatment of their baby's extremely underdeveloped organs' or '... for the treatment of their babies' extremely underdeveloped organs'?" would also be inappropriate without research. It would then either be inappropriate as too basic on ELU, or a duplicate of the question asking about the distributive singular. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 31 '18 at 11:12
  • @EdwinAshworth Are you saying my answer does not conform to the standards required here? – Ross Murray Jan 31 '18 at 12:54
  • @Ross Murray I haven't mentioned any actual answers in this list of comments. But I do believe that questions that are of an unsuitable standard (poorly written, with multiple issues, asking for help with questions dealt with at junior school) and/or that have been addressed on ELU before (eg if this is deemed actually to involve the distributive singular) should not be answered. I believe that this is ELU policy. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 31 '18 at 16:23
  • @Edwin I already attempt to avoid answering questions which are "inadequate". I do not always get that right. However, how could a newbie guess if a moderator has already provided a partial answer in a comment with nothing to indicate a "potential ...". Please look at the two comments Mari-Lou had already posted before I decided to attempt a detailed answer of the question. You should be telling her off, not me. // FYI. The following comment is the beginning of a draft reply I prepared while expected you to say my answer did not conform. – Ross Murray Jan 31 '18 at 17:19
  • @Edwin May I preface my comments with some personal opinions about various moderators here? // I regard you as a polite gentleman. I have very appreciated the matter-of-fact tone you have used in correcting my various transgression due to my inexperience // Mari-Lou I consider a nice person // I must not mention other names which spring to mind. The site does not permit ... – Ross Murray Jan 31 '18 at 17:20
  • @Mari-LouA I'm not sure how the system works here, I understand that using 'At you' will result in some message being sent to you. I think you should be made aware of the exchange above between Edwin and me. – Ross Murray Jan 31 '18 at 17:33
  • 100 million raised by 52 parents for their babies, for the treatment of their extremely underdeveloped organs. – Nigel J Jan 31 '18 at 17:55
  • @Ross Murray I believe my very first contribution here was to point out that a then close-vote reason (at the time 'easily answered by looking up in a single work of reference' or similar) wasn't appropriate when different easily-available references gave conflicting answers. But ELU is a site aimed at linguists; there seem to be far too many questions from new contributors that don't match this requirement. The Help Center is reasonably clear about what does and what doesn't constitute an acceptable question. It seems that many newbies don't bother to check there as recommended. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 31 '18 at 19:50
  • My answer was written after seeing Mari-Lou's comments and before you posted your first comment. // I understand the reasons for those policies // I would be happy IF those policies were enforced equally upon those new to answering questions as some of the most experienced here. // That is not what I am seeing. // Please do not tell me my perceptions are wrong. If you think that, please send me a link instead, to whoever owns the site. // I would want to warn them that the way the site currently functions is driving away potentially valuable new contributors. – Ross Murray Jan 31 '18 at 20:21
  • Alternatively, you may open a private chat line if you wish to discuss my reasons for dissatisfaction at some things that happen here. I will be available for at least the next 30 minutes. – Ross Murray Jan 31 '18 at 20:23

1 Answers1

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Firstly, I suggest writing either $100M or $100 million.

Your sentence sounds better to me with '52 parents' as its subject. That requires the currently passive voice of the verb 'to raise' to be changed to the active voice.

Ask who/what/... does the action of the verb 'to raise'. Answer, the parents. Not always, but you should usually make your answer to that question the subject of your sentences. That gives you

52 parents have raised $100M for their ...

Baby's is wrong. That means one baby with 52 parents.

Possessive forms of plural words ending with 's' require the apostrophe is placed after the 's'.

52 parents have raised $100M for their babies' treatment of extremely underdeveloped organs.

It then sounds better to me if treatment of is moved earlier.

52 parents have raised $100M for the treatment of their babies' extremely underdeveloped organs

.

Ross Murray
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  • Perhaps an "each" somewhere? – mplungjan Jan 31 '18 at 10:40
  • @mplungjan I was still making revisions to my answer at the time you posted your comment. I think my final version of my final answer does not require "each" to clarify the meaning. – Ross Murray Jan 31 '18 at 10:48
  • Perhaps you're unfamiliar with the 'distributive singular' usage (though I'd say it would probably be the less idiomatic choice here). – Edwin Ashworth Jan 31 '18 at 11:23
  • @Edwin I am unfamiliar with that terminology. Can you provide a link to something which explains it? – Ross Murray Jan 31 '18 at 13:18
  • @RossMurray Off topic but the distributive singular describes the use of a singular noun as the transitive object of a verb being executed by a plural subject. It's an idiomatic case but generally considered preferable to the plural form. Example: "The officers turned a blind eye to the crime at hand." Note the use of the singular "a blind eye" despite the subject "officers" being plural. This form is often used when the noun to which it is applied is part of some figure of speech, i.e. a metaphor or an idiom. – R Mac Jan 31 '18 at 14:09
  • @RMac Thank you for the explanation. I understand. Off topic? I would hope the site permits some latitude for that when intended to enhance its long-term functioning. It seems you think so. In this case I am one of those with an extensive but incomplete knowledge of the subject matter here. I have time and a talent for writing clear explanations of complex concepts. Why would I bother if I could not use opportunities like this to learn about specific details where my knowledge is incomplete? – Ross Murray Jan 31 '18 at 14:29
  • @RossMurray It's completely fine that you asked.We should take this to chat if you like since we're in discussion territory here, but for all watching, please know that discussion and feedback are always valuable. It's just useful to keep comments pertinent to the question when possible because it makes information that might be uncovered through the discussion easier to find for people who might use a search engine to try to answer that same question later. But you're not wrong to ask for your own benefit. At worst, that information might not be accessible to others. That doesn't hurt anyone. – R Mac Jan 31 '18 at 14:57
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    @RMac Thank you for that clarification. I will interpret no reply to this as your concurrence. In the future, if I see something from one of more knowledgeable contributors here I might ask them a very specific "What does that mean?" question. If I'm still confused after their first answer I should attempt some research myself. If I'm still confused I will ask if I may take my questions to chat. – Ross Murray Jan 31 '18 at 15:36