Possessive form when there are more than 2 words

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pifoux2000

#503813 Tue, 22 Apr 08 01:14 PM

Hello, I have read several articles about the possessive form but all the examples only use two words i.e. the car keys, the house roof etc… What happens when there more than two words.

Like for example in order to say: the maximum duration of the recording of the alarm message.

Which one is correct?

The maximum duration of the recording of the alarm message
The alarm message recording maximum duration
The maximum duration of the alarm message recording

Is there a rule for this ? Thank you!

pifoux2000

Joined on Wed, Apr 16 2008

New Member (05)

Articles, Possessives, possessive

pifoux2000

#503823 Tue, 22 Apr 08 01:32 PM

same for:

Changing the Language of the Recording of the Alarm Message"

What is the best way to say this?

pifoux2000

Possessives

Grammar Geek

#503846 Tue, 22 Apr 08 02:13 PM

There's no "rule" except for the one that says "don't make your reader work hard to understand what you mean."

Your second bullet is awful in that regard.

Your first one is okay, but it seems to emphasize the process of creating the recording - not the resulting (noun) recording itself. This applies to your second post as well - it's not the "recording process" you want to talk about. Changing the language of the alarm message recording.

Your third one is the easiest for me to understand.

But why do you need to call it a recording at all? Is it not a "Message"? The maximum duration of the alarm message. Changing the language of the alarm message.

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (15,583)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Regards, Possessives, Nouns

pifoux2000

#503854 Tue, 22 Apr 08 02:47 PM

Hello,

thank you for spending time to answer my question. Indeed the third one was also the best according to me.

This piece of text is actually talking about the recording process of an alarm message. I want to ask the user if he wants to set a maximum duration after which the recording process of the alarm message will stop.

Sorry for my poor english I hope you understand.... ;-)

So the user would get a message like:

"Do you want to set a maximum duration for the alarm message recording to '***' seconds for alarm number 5000 ?"

This sentence really sound strange to me now... can you correct it ? :))

Thanks a lot.