They have lost their job(s)

[gionorton]

I am wondering if I should use : 1)People have lost their jobs 2) people have lost their job . what's the difference between them? could anyone explain it to me in a clear way?

 

[Matthew Wai]

I would take "their job" to mean "a single job shared by all of them".

Not a teacher.

 

[Tdol]

1 person 1 job
2 people 2 jobs

 

[Raymott]

1 person 1 job
2 people 2 jobs

Maybe in an ideal world! Besides I think you could say either 'job' or 'jobs', and the context would make it clear.
And if a company is downsizing, "Everyone is afraid they will lose their job" doesn't refer to only one potential job loss.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

I get your point but I don't think it's a good example.

"Everyone" is singular and the use of "their" is just a way of avoiding the his/hers dilemma without it actually being a plural.

If a company is downsizing I would probably say, "All of the employees are afraid they will lose their jobs."

 

[Raymott]

"Everyone" is singular and the use of "their" is just a way of avoiding the his/hers dilemma without it actually being a plural.

Exactly. Or to put it in a non-PC terms. "Everyone is afraid of losing his job", and in the context, this doesn't apply to the potential loss of only one job - hence my point that, as long as it's grammatical, the actual sentence doesn't matter much because the context is of more importance.

 

[Matthew Wai]

"Everyone is afraid of losing his job"

Can "his" be replaced with "one's"?

 

[bhaisahab]

Can "his" be replaced with "one's"?

No.

 

[Matthew Wai]

"One must learn from one's [or his] mistakes" quoted from http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/one.htm
Why can "one's" be used in this sentence but not in Raymott's sentence?

 

[MikeNewYork]

In the first sentence "one's" refers back to "one". That is correct.

In Raymott's sentence "one's" would be referring back to "everyone". That is not correct.

 

[Raymott]

In Raymott's sentence "one's" would be referring back to "everyone". That is not correct.

Where did I write that? I don't think I've used "one's" in the whole thread.

 

[tzfujimino]

Where did I write that? I don't think I've used "one's" in the whole thread.

No, you haven't.
Mike was just responding to Matthew's last question.
He (=Mike) didn't mean what you wrote is incorrect.
:-D

 

[MikeNewYork]

Tzfujimino is correct.