singular or plural

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have this question and I asked a lot of people but no one knows the exact answer.

Q: I give advice to some of my friends how to live their life/lives, but no one seems to take my advice.

Is it life or lives? I need help.

Thanks.
Jennifer

[twostep]

I am not a teacher.

I would use lives as it refers to friends.

[Francois]

It depends on whether you consider the persons as a group or individually. Eg.
The life of the Romans
The Californian surfers' life

However, in your example:
I give advice to some of my friends how to live their life/lives, but no one seems to take my advice
I don't think you can consider some of your friends as an entity, thus the plural 'their lives' seems more appropriate.

FRC

[MikeNewYork]

Hi,

I have this question and I asked a lot of people but no one knows the exact answer.

Q: I give advice to some of my friends how to live their life/lives, but no one seems to take my advice.

Is it life or lives? I need help.

Thanks.
Jennifer

I would use "lives" there. They are not sharing one life. :wink:

[Tdol]

I agree with Twostep and Francois- given that we think of friends as individuals, the plural seems better.