An Apostrophe Question

[John Varela]

My daughter-in-law wants to know which is correct:

a) The three boys enjoy one another's company.

b) The three boys enjoy one anothers' company.

I think I would go with (a). How say y'all?

--
John Varela

[Opinicus]

On 20 May 2014 02:00:06 GMT, "John Varela" <newl...@verizon.net>
wrote:

>a) The three boys enjoy one another's company.
>b) The three boys enjoy one anothers' company.
>I think I would go with (a). How say y'all?

Definitely (a) though I probably would say "each other's" rather than
"one another's".

--
Bob
www.kanyak.com

[Mack A. Damia]

Isn't "each other's" reserved for two, or is that pass�?

I would go with (a) as well.

There is an apostrophe group, and although we are not very active, you
will get an answer.

alt.possessive.its.has.no.apostrophe

--

[Mark Brader]

John Varela:

>> a) The three boys enjoy one another's company.
>> b) The three boys enjoy one anothers' company.
>> I think I would go with (a). How say y'all?

"Bob":
> Definitely (a)

Absolutely definitely.

> though I probably would say "each other's" rather than
> "one another's".

Likewise.
--
Mark Brader | "It is impractical for the standard to attempt to
Toronto | constrain the behavior of code that does not obey
m...@vex.net | the constraints of the standard." -- Doug Gwyn

My text in this article is in the public domain.

[Mike Barnes]

I'd consider...

a) The three boys enjoy the company of one another.

b) The three boys enjoy the company of one anothers.

... and agree with you.

--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

[Anton Shepelev]

Mack A. Damia:
> Opinicus:
> > John Varela:

> >
> > > a) The three boys enjoy one another's company.
> > > b) The three boys enjoy one anothers' company.
> > > I think I would go with (a). How say y'all?
> >
> > Definitely (a) though I probably would say "each
> > other's" rather than "one another's".
>
>
> Isn't "each other's" reserved for two, or is that

> passe?
> [...]

I have found this:

,----[ http://preview.tinyurl.com/n52aj25 ]
| According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of En-
| glish Usage (MWDEU for short) the first person to
| state that "each other" should refer to only two
| people and that "one another" should refer to more
| than two was George N. Ussher, in 1785.
`----------------------------------------

and this:

,----[ http://preview.tinyurl.com/laclxhh ]
| Evidence in the Oxford English Dictionary shows
| "that the restriction has never existed in prac-
| tice," the M-W editors write
`-----------------------------

As for John's question, I would answer it from a
logical viewpoint, noting that 'another' refers to
one person and the plural 'anothers' makes no sense.

--
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[Guy Barry]

"John Varela" wrote in message
news:51W5y0sPNk52-pn2-QDwdlN1KoE5d@localhost...

(b) is definitely wrong, because there's no such form as "one anothers".
The rule is that the apostrophe should always be placed after the
non-possessive form of the word.

--
Guy Barry

[Daniel James]

In article <51W5y0sPNk52-pn2-QDwdlN1KoE5d@localhost>, John Varela
wrote:

> My daughter-in-law wants to know which is correct:
>
> a) The three boys enjoy one another's company.
>
> b) The three boys enjoy one anothers' company.

None of the above.

My instinctive reaction is to say (b) -- because each of the three boys
enjoys the others' company.

However, a little thought and a trip to the dictionary persuades me
that "another" can only refer to one other, and (as others have
suggested here) "anothers" makes no sense, so (b) is not a legitimate
answer.

That does not, however, mean that (a) must be accepted. From each boy's
perspective there is more than one other, so we are dealing with
"others" here, and "others'" is the only possible correct ending.

The correct answer, I would say, is that "another" can't be used in
this sentence, and that one must write "The three boys enjoy each
others' company".
--
Cheers,
Daniel.

[Opinicus]

On Tue, 20 May 2014 13:53:24 +0100, Daniel James <dan...@me.invalid>
wrote:

> "The three boys enjoy each
> others' company".

Or possibly "other's"...

>:-)

--
Bob, who revels in the the fact that English teachers will never be
out of work
www.kanyak.com

[Guy Barry]

"Daniel James" wrote in message news:VA.0000093...@me.invalid...

But you wouldn't write "The three boys like each others", would you? The
idiomatic form in such a context is undoubtedly "each other"; and the rule
for the formation of the possessive is that the apostrophe always follows
the non-possessive form. Hence the correct possessive of "each other" is
"each other's".

Also I can't see your objection to (a), unless you think that "the three
boys like one another" is ungrammatical.

--
Guy Barry

[Anton Shepelev]

Daniel James to John Varela:

> > a) The three boys enjoy one another's company.
> > b) The three boys enjoy one anothers' company.

> > I think I would go with (a). How say y'all?
>

> [...]

> From each boy's perspective there is more than one
> other, so we are dealing with "others" here,

> [...]

I think the phrases "each other" and "one another"
work differently, i.e. by picking each possible pair
from the group. If the boys were called A, B, and
C, then a) would mean that:

A and B enjoy one another's company
A and C enjoy one another's company
B and C enjoy one another's company

In Predicate theory this can be expressed as:

Axy: x<>y and G(x) and G(y) => E(x,y)
where:
G(x): x is one of "the three boys"
E(x,y): x enjoys the company of y

i.e.: for every two boys from the group of three it
is true that they enjoy each other's company. This
is how I'd explain the use of the singular.

[Daniel James]

In article <hfkmn9589j38skcfh...@4ax.com>, Opinicus

wrote:
>> "The three boys enjoy each
>> others' company".
>
> Or possibly "other's"...

Um. Yes, I shouldn't have used "each" there. /Mea culpa/.

There are three boys. From each boy's perspective there are two others.
The possessive form of "others" is "others'". However, that word "each"
tells us that we're considering each of the other boys in turn,
individually, so the "other" there is singular and "other's" is
correct.

Let's try again:

Each of the three boys enjoys the others' company.

or, indeed:

All three boys enjoy the others' company.

Sorry 'bout that.
--
Cheers,
Daniel

[Mack A. Damia]

On Tue, 20 May 2014 07:23:39 +0100, Mike Barnes
<mikeba...@gmail.com> wrote:

>John Varela wrote:
>> My daughter-in-law wants to know which is correct:
>>
>> a) The three boys enjoy one another's company.
>>
>> b) The three boys enjoy one anothers' company.
>>
>> I think I would go with (a). How say y'all?
>
>I'd consider...
>
>a) The three boys enjoy the company of one another.
>
>b) The three boys enjoy the company of one anothers.

C) The three boys were faggots, so it doesn't much matter.

--