2

When two people both work at the same place with the same post, Should I say "they both like their jobs" or "they both like their job"?

My understanding is : If people work at the same place with the same position, then I should say "they both like their job." But If people work at the same place with different posts, then I should say that they both like their jobs.

I am not sure whether my understanding is correct.

Improve this question
2
  • If you replace job with dog, you'd use the singular if it were the same dog and the plural if two dogs were involved. It's a good guide.
    – Ronald Sole
    Commented Apr 11, 2022 at 7:39
  • See Using a plural possessive pronoun for a singular noun?, which imho is essentially the same syntactic issue. I've no idea whether job or jobs is more common for the exact cited context, but I personally have no problem with either (nor would the user who posted the top answer to that linked question, I think).
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Apr 11, 2022 at 14:52

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

I would use "jobs". Even if the job title is the same, each person has their own job and so there are two jobs, meaning you would use a plural.

Perhaps an exception to that would be in some kind of "job share" where there is one job that is done by two people at different times. Even then I would tend to prefer the plural.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .