In the sentence, 'NCA offers a tool to measure a country's or region's natural capital', are one or both of country and region possessive (country's or region's vs. country or region's)? Ownership is a bit ambiguous because of the inclusive 'or'.
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is this your own sentence? It would sound better if it were rephrased: NCA offers a tool that measures the natural capitals of countries and regions. – Jason Bassford Oct 26 '18 at 17:30
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I had an answer, but it was downvoted with no reason given. So now there is no answer. – Trevor Christopher Butcher Oct 29 '18 at 14:56
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Possible duplicate of Preferred way to apostrophise in case of dual or multiple ownership by distinct entities – EenBeetje Oct 31 '18 at 20:35
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Possible duplicate of "Nikki's and Alice's X" vs. "Nikki and Alice's X" – Skooba Nov 01 '18 at 15:55
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Not a duplicate, unless somebody can identify an answer that addresses the case of something belonging to or associated with one of two (or more) entities; viz., X *or* Y. – Scott - Слава Україні Nov 04 '18 at 02:17
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Consider: “What’s that orange thing on the floor?” / “It’s either the cat or the dog’s toy.” — OK, so there are two possibilities. One possibility is that the thing is the dog’s toy. What’s the other possibility: might it be the cat’s toy, or might it be *the cat? If it might be the cat’s toy, then we need to say “It’s either the cat’s* or the dog’s toy.” to remove the ambiguity. And, sure, we can reword it clumsily (“It’s a toy belonging to either the cat or the dog.” or “It’s either the cat’s toy or the dog’s toy.”); but why should we? – Scott - Слава Україні Nov 04 '18 at 02:17
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The correct sentence is "NCA offers a tool to measure a country or region's natural capital," as this situation is analogous to the question in this post.
EenBeetje
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The linked post is irrelevant because it talks about “X *and Y”, and this* question is about “X *or* Y”. – Scott - Слава Україні Nov 04 '18 at 02:17
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I don't know that it is entirely irrelevant though. I think the same basic structure applies with any possessive nouns linked by a conjunction. – EenBeetje Nov 05 '18 at 15:32
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Oh, sorry, I did not. My brain is not functioning at the highest of levels this morning. – EenBeetje Nov 05 '18 at 16:17