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When two people both work at the same place with the same post, Should I say "they both like their jobs" or "they both like their job"?

My understanding is : If people work at the same place with the same position, then I should say "they both like their job." But If people work at the same place with different posts, then I should say that they both like their jobs.

I am not sure whether my understanding is correct.

ColleenV
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Wu Xiliang
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  • If you replace **job** with dog, you'd use the singular if it were the same dog and the plural if two dogs were involved. It's a good guide. – Ronald Sole Apr 11 '22 at 07:39
  • See [Using a plural possessive pronoun for a singular noun?](https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/268719/using-a-plural-possessive-pronoun-for-a-singular-noun), which imho is essentially the same syntactic issue. I've no idea whether ***job*** or ***jobs*** is more common for the exact cited context, but I personally have no problem with either (nor would the user who posted the top answer to that linked question, I think). – FumbleFingers Apr 11 '22 at 14:52

1 Answers1

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I would use "jobs". Even if the job title is the same, each person has their own job and so there are two jobs, meaning you would use a plural.

Perhaps an exception to that would be in some kind of "job share" where there is one job that is done by two people at different times. Even then I would tend to prefer the plural.

James K
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