How to write possessive when there is additional information

Question

I've just seen a headline in The Guardian newspaper entitled "Man who starved to death's plea to welfare officials" and it reminded me that I've always wondered how to construct sentences like this. Is the grammar in this sentence sound? It strikes me as very odd to write "death's plea".

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

[man who starved to death]'s [plea to welfare officials]

is analogous to

[man]'s [plea].

anonymousIt strikes me as very odd to write "death's plea".

As shown above, it's not [death]'s plea. It's [man who starved to death]'s plea.

anonymousIs the grammar in this sentence sound?

It's unusual but sound to have a long phrase controlled by a final 's. You can see from the examples below that these are very confusing structures, even though they are grammatically correct. I strongly recommend against using these turns of phrase, especially in academic writing.

the man who broke his arm's hospital bill
the woman who negotiated with the Taliban's scarf
the demonstrators who demanded justice for all's injuries

CJ

How to write possessive when there is additional information

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