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Would it be right to write "Brazilian's army's ammo supply is low."? Two consecutive apostrophes looks weird.

herisson
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Henryk Sasim
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    Do you mean *Brazil's army's...*? – Armen Ծիրունյան Nov 20 '15 at 10:50
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    You don’t have two consecutive apostrophes (well, acute accents) in your question. You have two consecutive possessives (or more specifically: one possessive embedded in another). This is perfectly fine—no different to multiple de_’s in Portuguese (“Os suprimentos _de munição da força policial do capital do Brasil”, for example). Consecutive apostrophes (like the army’’s) would always be wrong, though, unless you have a word that ends in an apostrophe. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Nov 20 '15 at 13:27
  • Also see Two possessive nouns in a row. – choster Nov 20 '15 at 15:21
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2 Answers2

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It would depend on what you meant. If you mean the Brazilian army was short of ammunition, then you would write the Brazilian Army's ammo supply is low.

But if you were referring to an army that is not the Brazilian army, but instead owned or run by a particular Brazilian (perhaps an army of toy soldiers, or an army of mercenaries), then the Brazilian's Army's ammo supply would be correct.

Brian Hooper
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    Wouldn't the second case have "army" non-capitalised though? – March Ho Nov 20 '15 at 11:08
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    @MarchHo, probably it should be; I'm not sure. If I owned an army of mercenaries, i'd be tempted to capitalise it. – Brian Hooper Nov 20 '15 at 11:13
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    @BrianHooper that's a bit of an overreaction to the possibility of attack by pedants, I think. ;-) – Dan Nov 20 '15 at 18:08
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    Another valid case would be if the Brazilian was a member of the regular Brazilian army, but perhaps he was unnamed in the context. In that case you could say "the Brazilian's army's ammo...," but I think there would definitely be no capitalisation on "army." – Echelon Nov 20 '15 at 19:48
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To be honest there are cases when it's perfectly acceptable to have "dual 's"

For Example: "Bob's army's Supply was lower then normal after the storm."

That said, it's probably best to avoid it. Specially when listing a "general" term.

For Example: "The Brazilian's army's Supply was lower then normal after the storm."

Both cases are "correct" but they both read very odd. It would be better to rewrite the sentences so that you could avoid the oddness.

Example: "Bob's army found its supplies lowered after the storm."
Example: "The Brazilian's army found its supplies lowered after the storm."

Those read much better, and removes the ambiguity in your original sentence.

Example: Brazilian's army's ammo supply is low.
Becomes: The ammo supply of the Brazilian's army was low.

coteyr
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