re: Their Life Or Their Lives? page 2

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Hi!

Given:

"The springtime of their life is far from over."

and

"The springtime of their lives is far from over."

whichever would you say is the correct sentence? I am aware that since "their" conveys a plural idea, the use of "lives" would appear more logic. But still I am not 100% convinced as "their life" could take the meaning of a group of people sharing the same experience together... Also, for me "their life" tends to sound better.

Can someone help by giving me an official grammar rule which could clear this?

I've done a lot of web search, but there was no straight answer.

Thanks!
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Comments  (Page 2) 
Many years ago in my English lab I was taught that "life" is always singular because people have only 1 life and not many.
Take the sentence: "people love their life". If we said "their lives" it would entail they have more than one and they love each one of them. Just as saying "people love their marriages" would indicate they are in a plural marriage. Instead we say "people love their marriage" Emotion: smile
More and more I see the plural form "lives" being used and as in many cases at the end the usage creates a new rule even through it is semantically (like in this case) or grammatically incorrect. I hope this helps Emotion: smile
Marina
Thanks Mohesan. you answer is %100 correct, I much appreciate it.
Cheers.
Cyrus
Australia
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Thanks
If you're referring to "their" as a collective pronoun or if you're using a collective noun, then you can use "life" but if you use 'their" as individuals, then, you can use 'lives".

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