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Cpu papaya 51 Posted 6 years ago
Grammar

Patients' or patient's

Hi all,

This sentence is a source of debate in our group. Is it patient's or patients' in the example below?

"Operative procedures may impact the patients’ ability to execute a productive cough."

We are speaking about operative procedures and its effect on cough production as a whole, but I believe the word 'the' here implies it is each individual's ability. - just didn't it again

Thank you!

  

Top answer

It's patient's . (It's each individual's ability, but it's not related to 'the'. It's more that you can't have multiple patients execute one cough.

  • It's patient's .
  • (It's each individual's ability, but it's not related to 'the'.
  • It's more that you can't have multiple patients execute one cough.
  • ) CJ
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1 Answers
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It's patient's.

(It's each individual's ability, but it's not related to 'the'. It's more that you can't have multiple patients execute one cough. Each patient has to execute his own cough.)

CJ

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