Father of 4 celebrated daughter's birthday

[GoodTaste]

Does "4" refer to "four (daughters)"? If so, should it be "Father of 4 celebrated daughters' birthday"? That is, the apostraphe has been incorrectly put.


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Who was Rayshard Brooks? Father of 4 celebrated daughter's birthday hours before police shot him in Atlanta


But, he said, "I was not running after someone that had a police weapon in a parking lot of patrons."

Source: USAToday
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...h-birthday-before-police-shot-him/3186684001/

 

[emsr2d2]

I imagine it's a misplaced apostrophe and he was actually celebrating the birthday of just one of his four children, and that child was female. However, it's possible he has twins (or triplets or even quadruplets) - if that's the case, the apostrophe after the "s" is correct.

 

[GoodTaste]

Well, which word does the number 4 modify then?

 

[emsr2d2]

Nothing. He is a "father of four". That simply means he has four children in total.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Does "4" refer to "four (daughters)"?

No. It refers to one daughter. It's correct as written.

If so, should it be "Father of 4 celebrated daughters' birthday"? That is, the apostraphe has been incorrectly put.

No. Again, he only celebrated one child's birthday. He celebrated the eighth birthday of one daughter. All four children were not born on the same date.

A father of four celebrated one daughter's birthday.
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Who was Rayshard Brooks? Father of 4 celebrated daughter's birthday hours before police shot him in Atlanta


But, he said, "I was not running after someone that had a police weapon in a parking lot of patrons."

Source: USAToday
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...h-birthday-before-police-shot-him/3186684001/

Nothing in the article should lead you to think that all four of his kids shared a birthday.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Well, which word does the number 4 modify then?

He was the father of four children.

 

[emsr2d2]

But he could just as easily have been the father of three boys and a girl. All we know is that he recently celebrated the birthday of a daughter.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

But he could just as easily have been the father of three boys and a girl. All we know is that he recently celebrated the birthday of a daughter.

Yup. I tried to correct that right away, but my internet connection is so slow today that it's taking a long time to make changes.

In fact, I'm getting off the computer now. It's eating up my day. See you later!