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Possible Duplicate:
“Nikki's and Alice's X” vs. “Nikki and Alice's X”
Preferred way to apostrophise in case of dual or multiple ownership by distinct entities

A group of football players and a group of basketball players at college share a house. Is that house

  • the football players and basketball players' house
  • the football players' and basketball players' house
  • something else?

I think the correct answer is the first option, as it seems to be the logical result of applying the individual rules for possession of an item by more than one person and possession of an item or items by groups of individuals, but I would like to be sure.

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1  
Matt, this question is not in my view a duplicate of your first linked question. I know the answer to that question. I am not sure of the answer to this question. The two questions differ in that in this question, the enumerated possessors of the object(s) are themselves groups of individuals. – Hammerite Aug 6 '12 at 8:41
2  
possibly the football and basketball players' house – Henry Aug 6 '12 at 8:41
Henry, I think the possibility of that answer is more to do with a poor choice of example on my part, in that it sidesteps the question. What if instead of football players and basketball players, it were football players and cheerleaders? – Hammerite Aug 6 '12 at 8:43
@Hammerite: in that case we fall back on Matt Эллен's first signaling of a duplicate: the football players' and cheerleaders'house. – Laure Aug 6 '12 at 8:54
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marked as duplicate by Matt Эллен, RegDwighт♦ Aug 6 '12 at 8:51

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