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I am editing the following sentence, and having an issue with identifying the proper pronoun.

“Her and her husband’s journeys and careers have allowed them to travel extensively.”

I know the rule about taking away the other subject to determine the proper pronoun, and if I do that here, it’s clearly “her”. Her journey, her career. However, I just can’t shake the feeling that “she and her husband’s” just “sounds” correct. I often get this feeling about a sentence (and usually I’m correct), but can’t put my finger on the grammar rule that would back up my “feeling”.

Any help would be appreciated. I’m kind of going around in circles on this sentence.

TrevorD
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jbebout1295
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    There's no elegant way to do it with either her or she - consider using her name or the couple's (respective) or just their (respective) –  Apr 02 '19 at 01:55
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    Possible duplicate of What possessive forms are used for mutual 1st person ownership? Despite the title, the answer there is not specific to first-person pronouns. – herisson Apr 02 '19 at 23:40
  • Why do you think "that 'she and her husband’s' just “sounds” correct."? It's not and it doesn't! Presumably the "journeys and careers" apply to BOTH of them? If that's not what you mean, then ...! – TrevorD Apr 06 '19 at 15:57
  • If there were two nouns, only the second would be passive; e.g. "Jack and Jill's bucket" so I can't see why "Her and her husband's" would not be acceptable. (The "take away the other subject rule" is bogus.) –  Apr 06 '19 at 16:00

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Short of more substantial rephrasing, this can be made to sound clearer if you remove the possessives:

The journeys and careers of both her and her husband have allowed them to travel extensively.

Jason Bassford
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