Possessive with two character's names

I've worked with some publishers which had a house style of making it very clear indeed:

"You already think he had something to do with Clara's and Darren's deaths."

I've worked with others which followed the rule of compound posession:

"You already think he had something to do with Clara and Darren's deaths."

But I also note that as this is contained within quote-marks, and might therefore be someone talking, you can use whatever form feels more appropriate for the character saying the words.

The rule is that you should only use the possessive on the last character's name. But Old Hack is right. If it's dialogue, use however the character would say it.

You might also consider:
"You already think he had something to do with the deaths of Clara and Darren."
I don't know which construction is preferred by whom, but I think that this one makes it clearer.

I remember reading in a style guide somewhere that it would be two apostrophes if we're talking about two separate things that are owned by the characters separately but one apostrophe if it's referencing something owned jointly. So Clara's and Darren's houses but Clara and Darren's house. As for the deaths, it would depend if the death happened jointly, as in the same accident?

But I can't find that rule by googling now, so maybe I just imagined it. Seems like the second way of writing it is considered correct unless specific house styles are involved, but things like dialog and narrative viewpoint might also change the way it's written, so it confuses me. You could also write around it, as KN says, but if you have to refer to it more than once, that might come off as strange and unnatural too.

Roxxsmom said:

I remember reading in a style guide somewhere that it would be two apostrophes if we're talking about two separate things that are owned by the characters separately but one apostrophe if it's referencing something owned jointly. So Clara's and Darren's houses but Clara and Darren's house. As for the deaths, it would depend if the death happened jointly, as in the same accident?

But I can't find that rule by googling now, so maybe I just imagined it. Seems like the second way of writing it is considered correct unless specific house styles are involved.

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I remember that rule, too... though danged if I can remember where I read it. (Strunk & White, maybe?) Maybe rearrange it as has been suggested, "the deaths of Clara and Darren", to avoid potential confusion.

I agree with King Neptune on this suggestion. There are lots of ways to write around little niggling problems like this, and make them disappear.

caw

blacbird said:

I agree with King Neptune on this suggestion. There are lots of ways to write around little niggling problems like this, and make them disappear.

caw

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True, and sometimes they result in smoother prose anyway. But I know that I still want to know the correct way to do whatever it is so it will be a tool in my toolbox. Even if a workaround works fine in that particular instance, it might not always be the best approach. If a writer is constantly avoiding particular sentence constructs because they don't know the rules for them, that can end up being rather awkward too.

Roxxsmom said:

I know that I still want to know the correct way to do whatever it is so it will be a tool in my toolbox.

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They are called compound possessives.

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/possessives.htm

And in my previous post I spoke too soon without really thinking, so I'm going to change what I said. Because the deaths of Clara and Darren have to be separate, even if they died at the same time in the same manner, both of their names should take the possessive.

You already think he had something to do with Clara's and Darren's deaths.

But still, if it's dialogue, it's however the character would say it.