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Could you tell me which is correct to say,

"Today is one of my friends' birthday." or "Today is my friend's birthday."

Thank you for your advice!

tchrist
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Mari
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1 Answers1

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This depends on your intended meaning, as the examples convey different meanings.

Friends is the plural form of friend.

See here for a dictionary definition.

In the first example you cite, the meaning is you have more than one friend and today one of them has a birthday.

In the second example you are saying that your friend has a birthday (but not necessarily that you have more than one friend).

You sound somewhat more popular when you go with the first as you are conveying two pieces of information and not just one. (1) you have more than one friend, (2) one of them has a birthday today.

However, "Today is my friend's birthday" reads less awkward and is used more frequently idiomatically.

Gary
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    Gary, thank you sooo much for your kind response! I'm very glad to have your answer! – Mari Mar 10 '17 at 14:10
  • @Gary, Does the apostrophe (') in "one of my friends' birthday" belong to 'one' (friend) or 'friends'? – mahmud k pukayoor Mar 10 '17 at 14:26
  • It belongs to friends, Mahmud, and we are talking about a birthday belonging to one of our 'many' friends. I've corrected birthday to the plural form in the first example, as the forms didn't match originally. – Gary Mar 10 '17 at 14:26
  • So the birthday is not of all friends. Normally 'friends' birthday' means birthday of all friends; if it's birthday of one friend, it is 'a friend's birthday'. Isn't there an ambiguity? If there is, why can't we word the sentence like "Today is the birthday of one of my friends", to avoid such an ambiguity? – mahmud k pukayoor Mar 10 '17 at 14:36
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    Friends' birthday, really makes no sense at all, as you are referring to a singular birthday and many friends, even if all your friends had a birthday on the same day, there would still be multiple birthdays (one belonging to each friend) ; so Friends' birthday just doesn't make sense at all, which is why I edited to 'Friends' birthdays' which I believe matched the intended meaning of the OP more. While 'today is the birthday of one of my friends', does work, i prefer "today is one of my friends' birthdays" as I think it scans better. – Gary Mar 10 '17 at 14:44
  • @Gary, "friends' birthday or birthdays", it doesn't matter. My doubt is regarding the possessive use of plural friends' in a construction like 'one of + plural noun + singular verb', where if we say 'one of my friends' birthday(s)', the possessiveness goes to all or only one friend? If we say, 'one of my friends is celebrating his birthday today', we use the singular verb. BTW,your construction 'friends' birthdays' has the meaning that 'all friends have the same day birthday' and from those friends having birthdays today, one of your friend is having his birthday today! Which one is senseless? – mahmud k pukayoor Mar 10 '17 at 15:54
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    This is incorrect. " your construction 'friends' birthdays' has the meaning that 'all friends have the same day birthday' " – Gary Mar 10 '17 at 16:00